A joint event of the two Interreg Europe projects REFORM and e-smartec, took place on 25 November 2019 in Thessaloniki. The event was organised in the framework of CERTH/HIT OPEN DAYS as the Greek Research Centre coordinates both projects. The event was co-organized by the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia (RDFCM) on behalf of the Region of Central Macedonia (RCM), the Region of Central Macedonia (RCM) and CERTH/HIT. Representatives of the Municipalities of the Region of Central Macedonia and students of the High Schools active in the ECOMOBILITY campaign came together for this meeting.
Mr. P. Bilias, the Regional Vice Governor for Infrastructure and Networks, welcomed the participants and opened a discussion for desired mobility interventions in greater Thessaloniki in order to reach sustainability goals.
Dr. E. Bekiaris, CERTH/HIT Director, and Mr. K. Tertivanidis, Director of RDFCM, also welcomed the participants and opened the next part of the event.
The first half of the meeting was dedicated to the presentation and the discussion of the Competence Centre for supporting SUMPs efficient development. The participants were informed on the functionalities of the REFORM Competence Center. The Competence Center is built on the basis of European and national SUMP guidelines and provides useful material for each phase of the sustainable urban mobility planning cycle. The Competence Center aims to become an effective channel for dialogue and experiences exchange among Municipalities so as to overcome common problems while planning and incorporating important lessons learnt from previous experiences.
During the second half of the event, the 1st living lab of e-smartec project took place. Designed according to the lessons learnt during the REFORM project, e-smartec aims at finding and adopting best practices to enhance the participatory dimension of SUMPs, an area in which Municipalities have a limited experience so far. Success stories from the EU experience were presented, leading to a fruitful discussion on RCM special needs on citizens’ and stakeholders’ active participation in mobility planning.
