CONCEPT

The idea for this project was initiated by Aberdeenshire Council in early 2002, as a means by which regions, which are peripheral to the core of Europe, could share knowledge and experience of developing transportation policies, strategies and projects, to learn about new, effective solutions, which could include trying to overcome this shared issue of peripherality. Regional and local public authorities were targeted which faced similar issues caused by peripherality and which were responsible for the development of transportation strategies and policies in their region. The overall objective of this project is to create more effective regional transportation policies and strategies to aid regional development, through the dissemination of effective, sustainable transport policy and good practice between regions, and learning about transportation strategy development in other regions. The methodology is divided into five sets of activities: 1. Management and Co-ordination; 2. A Series of Inter-regional Dissemination Mechanisms (a cluster group will be set up in each region to disseminate good practice, inviting representatives from different regions to give good practice presentations); 3. A Series of Inter-regional Activities (to explore inter-regional good practice in greater depth and breadth. There are three elements: partner conferences, study tours and working groups); 4. A Communication and Dissemination Programme (a project web site will be developed as well a database of good practice. A communications strategy will ensure that other regions’ good practice is communicated to a wider regional and national audience, and at the European level); 5. A Project Exit Strategy (project results will be presented to authorities and key organisations at the regional and national level, and at the European level. A final report will be sent to the JTS). The Lead Partner is Aberdeenshire Council (Scotland); the other partners are: Tuscany – Province of Leghorn (Italy); Center for Studies and Applications on Information Technologies, Sicily (Italy); the Center for Employment and Education (Austria); The Association of Local Authorities in Västerbotten (Sweden); Vest-Agder County Council (Norway) and; Region Eastern Macedonia – Thrace (Greece). The project’s principal outputs will be: a database of good practice; study tours; presentations of sustainable transport good practice; working groups; inter-regional conferences; and a final report. The project’s results will include the dissemination between regions of good practice in sustainable transport, effective transportation policy and in developing transportation strategies. Its long-term impacts will include: the transfer of transportation strategies, policies and projects and the development of more effective and sustainable transportation policies, strategies and projects.