Author: Mazowieckie Biuro Planowania Regionalnego (page 2)

Rail Baltica Growth Corridor is an international project whose main goal is to create, promote and publicize a rail link from Germany through Poland and the Baltic States to Finland. The project began on January 1, 2011 and was completed in early June 2013. The RBGC project was co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of the Baltic Sea Region Program, and its budget for 2011-2013 amounted to nearly €3.6 million.

The Rail Baltica Growth Corridor project was initiated to strengthen the competitiveness of the regions in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea Region by improving their transportation accessibility. In the dissemination of new, hitherto underused corridors for the movement of goods, passengers and capital particularly in the north-south direction, the project sees opportunities for the development of cities, private and public initiatives, and thus the improvement of the population’s living conditions. Under this ambitious challenge, it has succeeded in bringing together a wide range of diverse partners including those from the scientific, economic and political communities, creating an open platform of cooperation for the implementation of public and private initiatives within the Baltic Railway growth corridor.

In pursuit of highly ambitious but complementary and reinforcing challenges, the RBGC project work was divided into work packages (WPs). WP3 and WP4 involved questionnaire and study surveys of potential project stakeholders. In WP4, private sector stakeholders – transportation, shipping, communications companies and logistics centers – were analyzed, while in WP3, public sector institutions – city and regional governments and central government representatives responsible for transportation – were analyzed. The results of these analyses served as the basis for launching two pilot programs – WP5, within the framework of which a pilot communications information system was created, and WP6, aimed at strengthening interoperability and facilitating cooperation between logistics centers operating on the Rail Baltica link. The most important results and directions for future activities are summarized in the Rail Baltica Development Strategy, available for download.

In addition, a study titled: Study of the impact of the implementation of Rail Baltica on the logistics sector in the Mazovian Voivodeship, downloadable, was made from project funds. It is an attempt to identify favorable, potentially indifferent, or even unfavorable effects of Rail Baltica’s implementation on the economic development and entrepreneurship of the Mazovian Voivodeship. The information it contains allows one to look at the Rail Baltica project in the context of the region’s existing transport corridors, the existing logistics infrastructure and the scope of the transport tasks carried out by the two basic transport modes, road and rail, in their combination in the form of intermodal, combined transport.

More information about the stages of the RBGC project, as well as a database of articles and project materials, can be found at www.rbgc.eu.

PLUREL is an integrated project funded by the European Union’s 6th Framework Program. Thirty-one partner organizations from fourteen European countries and China are participating.

The aim of the project is to develop new strategies and planning and prediction tools that will be the basis for sustainable development within rural-urban relations in land use in the past.

On behalf of the EU’s 6th Framework Program, the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IGIPZ PAN) is participating in the program. The Mazovian Bureau of Regional Planning (MBPR) participates in the project under an agreement signed with IGIPZ PAN. MBPR Deputy Director Tomasz Slawinski has been elected chairman of the Stakeholders Board – the Council of Stakeholders of local government units of the participating regions.

The URBACT program was established by the European Commission in 2003. Its main idea of the program is to organize a network of European cities to increase the effectiveness of policies in alleviating economic, social and environmental problems in cities. The program places particular emphasis on spreading knowledge about integrated urban management and exchanging experience in this field.

Within the framework of this program, the Mazovian Regional Planning Office participated in the project CIVITAS.NET – The role of regions and metropolitan units in urban revaluation. The project was aimed at developing methods to effectively prevent the emergence of neglect and, where it occurred, methods for social activation and the creation of tools for improving regional and metropolitan policies in efforts to address declining urban areas by properly supporting local governments. The Working Group, led by the Generalitat de Catalunya, included the following regions: Mazovia (Poland), Glasgow and Clyde Valley (Scotland), Emilia Romagna (Italy) and the Hungarian government.

The work carried out within the framework of the Working Group allowed participants to familiarize themselves with the ways in which revitalization projects are being implemented in cities in other European regions. The analyses carried out identified the strengths and weaknesses of the revitalization projects presented, and in particular pointed out how regional authorities participate or should participate in the renewal of degraded urban areas. The experience gathered made it possible to develop appropriate conclusions so that regional participation in urban revitalization can become more efficient and effective.

The result of the joint work is the Final Report Civitas – A Regional Approach: The Added Value of Urban Revitalization, which describes examples of revitalization projects in member regions.

The program was implemented between October 2005 and May 2007.

The NODUS project – in its initial phase – implemented under the URBACT II program.

Housing & Planning: integration of urban regeneration policies in the general regional development policies (Housing & Planning: Integration of urban regeneration policies in the general regional development policies).

Since mid-2008, MBRP has participated in the NODUS project – Housing & Planning: Integration of urban regeneration policies in the general regional development policies, which is a continuation of the CIVITAS.NET project. This project is being implemented under the URBACT II program. The theme of the project is the integration of urban revitalization policies into regional policies, relating mainly to housing, planning and transportation.

The Working Group is addressing the issue of how urban projects, carried out within the framework of revitalization programs, affect the balance of metropolitan and regional land use. It attempts to coordinate regional spatial planning with urban revitalization policies leading to strengthening the positive impact of urban, revitalization projects on regional development, and to maximize the positive impact of those regional policies that contribute (or could contribute) to the success of city-led revitalization activities. Conclusions and solutions developed as part of the project will be applied in drawing up (updating) future program documents of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship, e.g. development strategy, spatial development plan or Provincial Program for the Care of Monuments.

The leader of the project is the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of the Region of Catalonia, Spain), the other partners taking part in the work of the project are: Emilia Romagna Region (Italy), the City of Amsterdam, the City of Katowice, the City of Dobrich (Bulgaria), and the Alba Iulia Region (Romania).

Substantive work is currently underway. In the project, four thematic areas have been identified, which each partner must discuss in detail based on the example of their experience. These topics are:

identification of the supra-local level of administration – identification of the administrative level that could be the basis for the development and integration of revitalization projects with regional spatial policy, identification of problem areas – identification of real indicators, universal for all cities/regions, for the designation of problem areas, designation of these areas and debate on the mechanisms and criteria for identifying these areas,topics of intervention programs carried out in problem areas – determination of the content of intervention programs necessary for implementation in the designated areas (internal integration of sectoral policies in a specific area),monitoring of the sustainable functioning of intervention activities – definition of mechanisms to control and guarantee the sustainable impact of interventions throughout the area, both territorially and functionally, allowing the creation of links to coordinate revitalization policies with spatial, sectoral and strategic planning.

At the same time, in accordance with the requirements of the URBACT II program, a Local Support Group was organized to help clarify needs and identify the best ideas and practices proposed for use in the project. Also, it verifies the work and results of the project during and after its completion.

The Mazovia Support Group consists of:

representatives of the Office of Housing Policy of the City of Warsaw,representatives of the Warsaw School of Economics from the Department of Investment and Real Estate,representatives of the City Hall of Minsk Mazowiecki,representatives of the Radom City Hall,representatives of the Revitalization Forum Association,representatives of the Office of the Marshal of the Mazovian Voivodeship in Warsaw from the Department of Strategy and Regional Development.

As part of the project, a Local Action Plan is being prepared.