BE READY: CREATING SYNERGY WITH THE S.M.ALL PROJECT

On July 25, 2024, in Sofia, Bulgaria, the fourth transnational meeting “Vision and Projects” was held to tackle the challenges and opportunities in creating sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions for all. This event was organized within the S.M.ALL project, which focuses on addressing urban challenges by promoting and implementing sustainable mobility solutions. The project emphasizes the importance of safe home-to-school journeys, accessible routes, and tailored Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, particularly targeting vulnerable groups.

The Be Ready project shares a common goal with the S.M.ALL project: the improvement of public services and increased citizen participation. While S.M.ALL focuses on enhancing mobility services for vulnerable populations, the Be Ready project addresses the risks that Urban Heat Islands (UHI) pose to these populations. Both initiatives aim to involve citizens more actively in the planning and implementation processes to ensure that the services developed meet the actual needs of the communities.

The collaboration between Be Ready and S.M.ALL will continue to explore further touch points for fostering active citizen participation, ensuring that the voices of all community members are heard and their needs addressed in future urban mobility and environmental projects.

This project is supported by the Interreg Danube Region Programme co-funded by the European Union.

SYNCLUSIVE: SYNERGY WITH S.M.ALL FOR SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

On July 25, 2024, in Sofia, Bulgaria, the 4th Transnational Meeting “Vision and Projects” was held to tackle the challenges and opportunities in creating sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions for all. This event was organized within the S.M.ALL project, which focuses on addressing urban challenges by promoting and implementing sustainable mobility solutions. The project emphasizes the importance of safe home-to-school journeys, accessible routes, and tailored Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, particularly targeting vulnerable groups.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the collaboration between SYNCLUSIVE and S.M.ALL. The two projects discussed an opportunity for a new mobility service to be designed to assist vulnerable individuals in accessing the labor market more easily. This aims to bridge the gap for those who face mobility challenges, ensuring that they can commute safely and efficiently.

By this synergy SYNCLUSIVE and S.M.ALL hope to enhance their impact, making urban mobility not only more sustainable but also more inclusive for everyone.

   
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101094526

PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO SUPPORT THE FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE OF THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS

Sharing good practices and ideas from the PLOUTOS project

The main objectives of the AMIF-funded project PLOUTOS are to support the access of third country nationals to financial services and business opportunities, to enable them to settle in their new countries of residence. In the past six months, the PLOUTOS partners have implemented an innovative program for business acceleration, using a simulated digital environment and personalized mentoring approach. SDA organized a hybrid business acceleration program which helped migrants develop a business idea and learn more about the business and financial services in Bulgaria.

Watch the video and read the program poster to find out more about the partners and the program participants.

PLOUTOS is implemented with the support of the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.

PEEKING INTO THE FUTURE OF CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION: BE READY PARTNERS JOIN THE KLIMA BIENNALE IN VIENNA

What better way for cities and urban planning specialists to integrate research and innovation for climate change adaptation into their policymaking than seeing it with their own eyes and testing it on the spot?

While in Vienna for the Be Ready methodological workshop, on 10 July 2024 the consortium joined the proBach project for a visit to the Vienna Klima Biennale and a special talk on water green cities. The Biennale was an excellent opportunity for the Be Ready partners to see science in action and to ponder new ways of tackling the UHI effects in their own cities. Senior scientist Bernhard Pucher (BOKU University) held a special talk on how water resources could be used to combat climate change through blue and green infrastructures. Some notable examples that drew the attention of the Be Ready partners included, for example, the proBach project which showcased the potential of bringing sewered creeks and rivers back to the ground level of the city to create resilient habitats and mitigate climate change. Another one - the LooPi project installation - displayed a unisex urinal with a closed water cycle and urea treatment using the VertECO system, which, similar to a treatment wetland, supplies plants with water to decrease the UHI effect. Based on those examples, the guided discussion gave the Be Ready partners new insights on using water in cities and how future water management, specifically water reuse, can support UHI mitigation using blue and green acupuncture measures.

The visit to the Biennale comes at a time when the Be Ready city partners are getting ready for their UHI vulnerability and risk assessments, which will help them define a city-specific pilot to reduce UHI effects in the next 12 months. Learn more about the pilot cities and the Be Ready approach to UHI by visiting the project website and social media: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/beready-project ; Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bereadyprojecteu 

This project is supported by the Interreg Danube Region Programme co-funded by the European Union.

BE READY PROJECT COOPERATION ON NEXT LEVEL

July 9-10th marked an important milestone for the Be Ready project consortium. Partners gathered in Vienna, hosted by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) for their first international methodological workshop. The methodology for urban heat islands (UHI) vulnerability and risk assessment, developed by the research partners during the first months of the project, was presented, discussed and validated with city partners and they underwent an interactive training for its application.

The developed UHI city assessment tools take into consideration not just statistical indicators like population density, land use, built-in environment ratio, albedo and heat conductivity of materials, but also the social groups likely to suffer most from urban heat. The methodology also assesses the adaptive capacity of cities and regions – their policy, action plans, and institutional resources. A special emphasis was put on data collection sources that would allow to conduct a valid city UHI assessment using only available and/or open data, since accessing and understanding data can accelerate city climate action.

Partners received guidance and exchanged ideas on launching their local UHI assessment after the summer break – how to secure the citizen buy-in, which stakeholders to engage, how to achieve cross-silo cooperation within the administration, what support to expect from the research partners, how to organize local workshop at marketplaces, museums and other public places, what information materials and campaigns to develop in order to explain their efforts to protect people as well as built and natural systems from the adverse effects of extreme heat.

In September 12 Danube region cities will launch their first UHI risk and vulnerability assessment engaging their local communities and stakeholders.          

This project is supported by the Interreg Danube Region Programme co-funded by the European Union.