It’s January! Time to plan ahead, but also to look back of what we accomplished in 2017. We are proud of our achievements and hope they will form the basis for additional quality work in the future.
Here is our 2017 in review:
Exchanges of experience and study visits: The SHARE partners met for the first time in February 2017 in Spoleto (IT), and twice more during the year in Pécs (HU) in July and in Extremadura (ES) in December, moving quickly from getting to
know each other and our territories, to an ambitious schedule of desk and field research, and engaging the stakeholder groups.
The planned exchanges of experience and study visits took the group to tour cultural heritage sites in the three territories, each able to illustrate transferrable practices. Visits took them to see
• assisted mobility solutions to make a hilltop historic centre more easily accessible with fewer cars (Spoleto)
• a disused industrial site converted into a complex of museums, meeting halls, and performance and rehearsal spaces, a focal point for residents (Terni). See images from Spoleto and Terni here.
• a paleo-Christian burial ground made accessible to visitors (Pécs)
• a sprawling factory site transformed into a multi-purpose centre used by residents and the local University, attracting tourists, offering museums, educational spaces, performance venue, shops, a café and restaurant (Pécs) See more about this study visit here.
• tangible and intangible cultural heritage from Roman, medieval and later sites, both secular and religious, and their role in local economic development (Trujillo, Guadalupe, Don Benito, Medellín, Magacela, Cancho Roano and Castuera in Extremadura) See more here.
Research and outputs: Guided by the research framework and methodology proposed by Advisory Partner University of Greenwich, the partners were busy performing 
benchmarking analysis of policy documents and case studies, and involving stakeholders in focus group exercises. In August and September, the six partners conducted surveys of residents, visitors and businesses in their territories, assembling the survey findings and transmitting them to the advisory partner for analysis.
The project’s desk and field research activities, and the work of the University of Greenwich, are focused on integrating the exchange of experiences process, and aimed at identifying suggestions to improve regional policy. At the end of the year, partners approved a template, unique to SHARE, for drafting each territory’s Action Plan.
