On 4-5-6 October 2016, all RESOLVE project partners attended the second Project Management Group meeting in Växjö, where they discussed the upcoming activities of SEM2 and the reporting procedures of SEM1.
At the end of the meeting, Kronoberg County Administration Board organised in Växjö the Peer Review. Experts of logistics and retail from four different European countries, together with the local stakeholders group and the RESOLVE management team, shared their ideas about opportunities in consolidation of goods for retailers in the city center, different initiatives on how to make downtown and sustainable public transport attractive, and several ways on how to engage residents and entrepreneurs with environmentally friendly transport. The local stakeholders group is made up of representatives from the County Administrative Board of Kronoberg County, Region Kronoberg Växjö, Växjö CitySamverkan and Energy Office Southeast.
«Using the expertise gathered in Växjö during these days, we clarified our aspirations and facilitated environmental investments for mobility and transport in the city. We are proud of the great initiatives that are already in place in Växjö and happy that we got the opportunity to show our efforts to our partners» says Aida Ramic, RESOLVE project manager for Kronoberg County Administration Board.
The PEER REVIEW: the main results
The Peer review started with a joint reception where Acting Governor Anders Flanking welcomed everybody at City Hall in Vaxjo. Around 40 people representing stakeholders group, university and observers from other project partners and cities joined the meeting.
During the first part of the Peer Review, Kronoberg County Administration Board introduced the local situation, the objectives of the Peer Review and the goals within RESOLVE project. In the second part, the experts, working in groups, discussed about the impressions of the first day and the possible suggestions to improve the local situation.
Knowledge exchange is a central goal of the project: due to the participation in this activity, local stakeholders group gained new knowledge about how different groups can influence mobility planning, about projects on consolidation centres already realised in Europe, about how tourists experience local transport, and found as well new inspirations on how to communicate to public regarding environment and how to make potential changes attractive for them. The experts group had delivered numerous suggestions on how to achieve local environmental goals: initiatives like bike promotion, parking solutions and mobility planning were clarified; advices about how communication can be more effective and public transport more attractive were generously shared during the Peer review; specific recommendations about start and run of consolidation points were delivered.
At the end of the Peer review an evaluation of the event was made. The majority of the participants was very satisfied with the activity. A lot of positive comments were made on the organization of the event. Some of the participants wished to have a longer time devoted to the Peer review, especially to discuss together with the local stakeholders group.
