“A most important social effect of the Corona virus pandemic is the increased demand for locally available, endogenous goods and services” said Mariann Szabó, PhD, a leading expert in the INTERREG Europe ‘Local Flavours’ project. Speaking at the online discussion of the INTERREG Policy Learning Platform, on Thursday, July 23, she stressed that in the unanticipated situation brought on by COVID-19 less well-known territories and communities need to respond in innovative ways to the challenge - they must become proving grounds for innovation in multiple areas. They need to put essential social changes onto practice which concern both material and immaterial elements of the life and actions of towns and cities, with special attention to culture and tourism.
The ‘Local Flavours’ project may just become such a social proving ground. Its objective is to improve policies supporting places unable to fully exploit their cultural legacies due to their less-advantageous location. It helps participating communities in eight EU member countries to effectively identify and exploit their authentic cultural heritage with an innovative analysis toolkit, extensive knowledge sharing and through assisted interaction with local public and private stakeholders. Dr. Szabó, an expert at the Institute of Advanced Studies (iASK), the Lead Partner of the project, cited good examples in Kőszeg (Hungary), ’s-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) and Waterford (Ireland) on how local government, local businesses, civic organizations and academia work together to find new solutions amongst the new challenges.
For further information, please contact: Dr. Mariann Szabó, iASK (Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg), [email protected]; interregeurope.eu/localflavours
