First STAR Cities Interregional Learning Session
Study visits, workshop and steering committee
The first STAR Cities Interregional Learning Session took place in Rome from 17 to 19 July 2019. The three-day event was hosted by the Lazio Region and was dedicated to study visits, a day of workshop and to finish with, the steering committee.
The partners of STAR Cities attended the event : the Val-de-Marne Tourism Board, the Lazio Region, the Municipality IX EUR of Rome, the City of Hamburg, the Public institution « Kaunas 2022 » as well as NECSTouR.
Wednesday, 17 July – Study visits
The day started with a short guided tour of the Regional nature reserve of Nazzano located in Tevere-Farfa, located about 40 kilometers North of Rome in the province of Rome and Rieti.
It was followed by a boat tour on the Tiber river aboard ecological boats. The goal was to discover what was the first protected area in the Lazio Region and the first regional nature reserve in Italy. The reserve has since become an « Area of regional interest ».
Then, our group went on a visit of the River Museum in Nazzano. It is specifically designed to raise awareness on the river ecosystem in all its aspects and peculiarities, featuring different equipment such as microscopes, aquariums and films. The museum also boasts an archaeological section.
The study visit took the partners to the Mezzocammino area, a suburban area located halfway between Rome and the mouth of the Tiber river where they met with a local fisherman that is one of the few persons to live next to the river.
Thursday, 18 July – Workshop
Day 2 of the first Interregional learning session took place at the Lazio Region headquarters. The morning kicked-off with the introduction of NECSTouR survey.
NECSTourR kicked-off the second day by introducing its survey which ran for two months. The goal was to gather ideas of good practices for the project from six different respondents located all over Europe.
The morning was also dedicated to the presentation of the partners State of Play during which the participants were invited to think of a SWOT analysis. The Municipality IX EUR of Rome started the introduction, followed by the Val-de-Marne Tourism Board, Kaunas 2022 and finally the City of Hamburg.
Afterwards, the STAR Cities partners figured out a common SWOT analysis for the project in order to help define the thematic programme for the upcoming Interregional learning sessions by matchmaking good practices and learning needs.
Friday, 19 July – Steering committee
The project partners shared their feedback on this first Interregional Learning Session and voted the thematic programme for the upcoming Interregional learning sessions.
Thematic programme :
- 11-13 September 2019 in Kaunas : "Locals & Communities"
- 21-24 April 2020 in Hamburg : "Tourism products & marketing"
- June-July 2020 : "Environment & Sustainability" - Location to be determined
- September-October 2020 in Val-de-Marne : "Governance and coordination"
Each session will include :
- Day 1: Study visits
- Day 2: Thematic workshop
- Day 3: Steering committee (half day)
As previously reported during a meeting in April, the participation of our partner the Ministry of Tourism of Romania led to delays in the project’s implementation. The steering committee voted its exclusion from the STAR Cities partnership during the seminar. This decision takes effect from the end of semester 2, i.e. the 31th of May 2019.
The preferred solution of the partnership is to find a replacing partner to address the same policy instrument. The lead partner has already started this search and he is in contact with one potential partner
