ZEN
Zero-Impact Cultural Heritage Event Network

Priority: Environment and risk prevention
Theme: Cultural heritage and landscape

APPLICANT
Sviluppumbria - Regional Development Agency for Economic Promotion
Perugia - Italy

PARTNERS
Municipality of Perugia, Perugia - Italy
Municipality of Drama, Drama – Greece
Vilnius City Municipal Government Administration, Vilnius – Lithuania
Sigulda District Council, Sigulda – Latvia
University of East London, London - UK
Regional Government for Culture and Tourism - Autonomous Government of Extremadura, Mérida – Spain
Others

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Zero-impact cultural heritage Event Network – ZEN is a project aimed at developing a shared methodology to reduce the impact of events and festivals in historic centers and on cultural heritage through the exchange of significant experiences and lessons learned by the participating partners. All over Europe, events and festivals have the ability to draw positive effects on tourism, cultural diversity and local economy but they also have critical impact on local context and, more in general, on the environment. In the UK alone, it is estimated that live music events produce 400,00 t Co2 annually and a 2007 survey carried out by the University of Buckinghamshire on behalf of A Greener Festival on 649 festival goers in Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands found out that 80% were concerned about noise, 82% thought waste had a negative impact, 84% were worried about the impact of travel and transport, 60% expressed concern about water and land damage. The same survey found out that 42% of respondents believed that the responsibility for minimising these damages lies with local authorities, as many of the negative effects of events are felt immediately at local level, with increase in noise and air pollution, waste production, pressure on transport and infrastructure and damage to fragile cultural heritage. Based on these data, the main focus of ZEN is to work with different know-how and experiences to provide common solutions at EU level dealing with the reduction of these negative effects on urban settings of cultural and artistic significance and that will provide a roadmap to manage and protect cultural heritage in occasion of open-air events that attract large numbers of people.

PERIURBAN: Periurban Parks
Improving Environmental Conditions in Suburban Areas

Priority: Environment and risk prevention
Theme: Biodiversity and preservation of natural heritage

APPLICANT
Regional Government of Tuscany –Firenze – Italy

PARTNERS
FEDENATUR : European Federation Natural and Rural, Metropolitan and Periurban spaces, Barcelona – Spain
Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen – UK
The City of Košice, Košice – Slovenia
Lille Metropolitan Natural Space Office, Lille Cedex – France
Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia, Katowice – Poland
Others

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
PERIURBAN kicked off in July 2010 in Florence. Since then, 5 project meetings have been organised with relative management and thematic sessions and practical study visits. The 2nd meeting was organised in Seville (ES) in May 2010 and included a seminar entitled “The Role of Periurban Natural Areas in Models of Urban and Land Planning”, with participants from regional, national and EU level entities. 2 study visits were organised: to a Periurban natural park in Cordoba and to a metropolitan natural park in Seville. The 3rd meeting was held in Sofia (BG) in September 2010 and partners undertook in-depth exchange on themes relating to periurban parks: policy / regulatory issues, environmental and rural protection, social and cultural issues, including citizen participation. Partners visited Vitosha Natural Park, to witness the good practices and threats of a periurban park located beside a capital city. The 4th meeting was held in Katowice (PL) in December 2010, together with a conference entitled “From a City to a Metropolis – Ways of European Development”, in which PERIURBAN was presented. Partners continued exchange on key themes, this time focused on infrastructure and funding. The related study visit demonstrated complications and opportunities related to environmental and social recovery of ex-mining areas. The 5th meeting was held in Prague (CZ) in February 2011. Partners worked on the structure of the Common Methodology, bringing together elements from regional analyses. During the study visit, they visited the area that will become a pilot testing area within the project. The 6th meeting was held in Milan (IT) in May 2011, in parallel with a thematic seminar on Legal Status of Periurban Areas and other Green Infrastructure. In addition to thematic discussions and presentations, partners participated in a study visit to the 2 parks involved in the project. Meetings and exchange between events have helped in the preparation of a territorial analysis of each partner area. On the basis of a common template, partners undertook an in-depth study of territorial characteristics, obstacles in creation and management of periurban parks and good practices or solutions to these obstacles. Reports were completed in January 2011 and used as a basis for the Common Methodology for the creation and management of periurban parks.

PRE-WASTE: Improve the effectiveness of waste prevention policies in EU territories

Priority : Environment and risk prevention
Theme : Waste management

APPLICANT
Marche Region – Ancona - Italy

PARTNERS
Ile-de-France Region Waste Management Observatory, Paris – France
Municipality of Roquetas de Mar, Roquetas de Mar – Spain
Municipality of Sofia, Sofia – Bulgaria
Brussels Environment IBGE, Brussels – Belgium
Municipality of Karlskrona, Karlskrona – Sweden
Others

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Waste is a key environmental, social and economic issue and a growing problem. The amount of waste generated in EU continuing to raise each year. 3 billion tonnes of waste - 70 million tonnes of it hazardous - are thrown away in the EU annually.
This amounts to about 6 tonnes of solid waste for every European. Waste management has become increasingly sophisticated, as separate collection and recycling facilities have become commonplace and landfill and incineration standards have become more rigorous.
Even if waste prevention is considered as a priority within the existing national and regional strategies, many efforts still need to be done. In this context, the PRE-WASTE project (three-year European project (2010-2012)) addresses waste prevention regional policies, with the objective to improve the effectiveness of existing policies and to significantly reduce waste production and the risks deriving there from. In particular, the aims of the project are to:

• define guidelines to plan, implement and monitor regional waste prevention policies
• select 20 of the best waste prevention practices implemented by local and regional authorities
• create a web tool to assess and monitor the efficiency of the waste prevention actions implemented.

PRE-WASTE was promoted in 9 EU events attended by partners, by more than 15 articles and 10 press releases. Project website (www.prewaste.eu)and flyers contribute to wider disseminate of main project results reached