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• Urban and regional management

Urban and regional management

Example: Potential Renewable Energies in Cities and Municipalities

If climate protection is to be successful, a world-wide restructuring of the energy supply by means implementing efficiency measures and by promoting renewable energies is needed. In order to use the options that the production of renewable energy present effectively, it is necessary to prove their feasibility on a regional level, as well as the potential to embed them into the existing infrastructure. For cities and municipalities, this means that the technical aspects related to the planning of energy demand and power supply must be coordinated with the overall development planning. In cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and the University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen, seecon gmbh supports cities and municipalities with the analysis of their energetic potentials, so that electricity and heat can be produced as efficiently as possible in their own areas. In Switzerland, a comprehensive study is carried out in the canton of Basel-Stadt, together with partner-projects in Germany and Austria. The results obtained in model cities Leipzig and Stuttgart show that the energetic potentials of a city or a municipality can be used efficiently only by an optimal matching and tuning of both renewable heat and electricity supplies. In the future, between 50 and 100% of a the electricity and heat requirement can be produced by households and business directly within the urban space.

Example: regiosuisse – Network Node for Regional Development

With the new regional policy (NRP), which came into force at the beginning of 2008, the Swiss Federation supports rural, mountainous and border areas in dealing with structural change. Through the NRP, the local conditions for business activities are to be improved and innovations, creation of value-added and competitiveness are to be promoted in the target regions. The national network node for regional development (regiosuisse) is responsible for the implementation of the article 3 of the NRP (knowledge management). regiosuisse consists of a consortium of different planning agencies. seecon is part of this consortium and is responsible for the following tasks:

• the deputy coordination of regiosuisse by Johannes Heeb.
• Initiate, manage and support a number of communities of practice, in which persons involved in regional politics can exchange their knowledge and know-how and can strengthen their network. The knowledge and know-how generated in the communities of practice is broadly distributed within the NRP community and made available to all interested parties.
• Set-up of the network for research and regional development: this improves the cooperation and exchange between individual research organizations in the field of regional development, supports the exchange between researchers and practitioners and strengthens the overall field of research for the regional development in Switzerland.

Further information: www.regiosuisse.ch

Example: Anti-Littering Campaign

Managing public areas is a cross-sectional task that concerns different institutions and stakeholders such as such as street-cleaning, police, juvenile labour and urban planning, as well as private stakeholders such as businesses, gastronomy, and real estate companies. In order to enable and coordinate the actions against littering and other problems such as public disturbance and vandalism, a comprehensive campaign was launched in the canton of Thurgau. In order to develop a number of practical measures, ten typical problems the municipalities face were analysed in the year 2008. In pursuance of the implementation of the developed measures, a platform at cantonal level was created, which counted with the participation of public authorities, business representatives, associations and schools.
This platform coordinates the activities of the participants and guarantees that the municipalities in the canton of Thurgau obtain the necessary information, aids and support that are required for a successful operation against littering and other problems. The campaign will be active for several years, and it is coordinated in cooperation with Ernst Basler + Partners.

Further information: www.littering.tg.ch

Example: “Future for the Commons”-Congress Series

The association “Future for the Commons (VFC)” was established in 2006 as a platform for knowledge exchange and networking. The platform is open for experts, interest groups and interested individuals that deal with public space. The goal of the association is to promote the integrated management of public goods, as well as improving the quality of life in the public sphere. The VFC’s topic is the collective use of the public space, and the associated challenges for maintaining the conditions of the place and the overall quality of life. In 2007 and 2009, two comprehensive international congresses were organized, covering professional as well as thematic areas. seecon gmbh is currently in charge of the management of the association.

Further information: www.future-4-commons.ch

Example: Littering Manual

Over the last 15 years, littering has become a problem, which is strongly noticed by the population and also intensively discussed in politics. Yet, in order to find solutions to this problem, which results as a consequence of modern lifestyle, differentiated strategies are required. With the support of the BAFU (the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment), environmental offices at cantonal level, cities and business representatives, the Littering Manual was published in 2008. The manual offers practical assistance to municipalities, schools and private parties when developing and implementing situations-specific-measures against littering. The manual (in German) can be ordered through the BAFU or seecon.