Learning from one another's good practices: digital communication tools and the improvement of local processes

It is valuable to see how the experience of many of these cities has been also supported by working in URBACT networks over the years. This is the case of Genoa and Alba Iulia who were part of the City Logo network, developing branding strategies which these cities successfully applied to their tourism and city promotion goals. The City of Genoa  adopted the City Tax Management System back in 2012, through which it developed a joint strategy between the City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce for the use of tourism tax. The city is constantly working on the improvement of this instrument, as it did by creating a visual identity, and a permanent and multi-stakeholder Social Media Team, responsible for co-promotion web communication actions. It also supports the implementation of new services and tourist products by independent local operators, with impacts on local economy and employment. This instrument has encouraged the habit of collaboration between institutions and stakeholders, for example by creating the conditions for a widespread enhancement and protection of historical shops and local gastronomic traditions. A working group has been created to enable citizens to propose to the Administration specific projects of public works that can be implemented using City Tax resources, such as the restoration of monuments or the maintenance of historical buildings, public gardens and parks. The City Tax Management System has clear impacts in economic terms, as the number of bed nights in 2016 has risen by 7.34% and the time spent in Genoa by tourists has increased from 1.98 days in 2012 to 2.3 days in 2016. This has meant the attraction of €491.360.000 in 2016 and the creation of approximately 1.500 new jobs in five years. What the city is working on now, is the creation of a shared storytelling of the city in which citizens and tourists can become the narrators of these impressive changes on Genoa.

When it comes to city branding the work developed by Alba Iulia is impressive, especially when  putting into perspective the challenge many small or medium-sized cities from Europe face when wanting to gain visibility in a changing economic context while promoting their cultural heritage. Although a small city with approximately 60.000 inhabitants, Alba Iulia withholds a remarkable heritage thanks to its citadel, historic sites and a medieval library, assets on which the city managed to capitalise though an effective positioning strategy. The city has managed to stay in the middle of events by being different, hence the brand “The Other Capital”. Alba Iulia tells a story about an old city having a multi-cultural past, becoming the symbol of unification of a country that then fell into decay up until it joined the EU, to then start building a new future based on its cultural heritage. Alba Iulia is now one of Eastern Europe's most remarkable experiences as it managed to attract €60 million for the renovation of the citadel and to increase both its population by 10.000 inhabitants and the number of tourists by 65% in only five years. This was carried out though an important communication and branding strategy, which included actions such as “The Big Hug from Alba Iulia”, where 100.000 people gathered around the citadel in the biggest hug in the world, or “The Great Appearance”, a marketing event with 1.000 photos-portraits of the inhabitants of the city. Such a strategy translates into the increase of overnight stays, from  59.210 in 2011 to 114.446 in 2015, of overall accommodation capacity, from 612 in 2009 to 1.186 in 2016, and of visitors at the museum, from 91.608 in 2013 to 167.200 in 2016. Alba Iulia is further improving this impressive practice by integrating a stronger digital and social media component to its city marketing strategy.

Another important field in which cities have successfully experimented with is the urban regeneration field, on which URBACT has a long tradition that also inspired the work of Murcia and Lisbon. Between 2007 to 2013 the City of Murcia has carried out the regeneration of the Espíritu Santo district, by aiming at the improvement of three strategic areas: the physical space; the social and cultural context; and the economic environment. The procedures and methods employed involve the need to establish a close inter-correlation between environmental efficiency, technological innovation and knowledge as well as the creation of stable mechanisms for citizens’ participation. In fact, the project addressed ethnic minorities, may these be immigrant or roma population with a high risk of social exclusion, by increasing their employability, skill-training, integration itineraries and ICT capacitation. The work carried out in the Espíritu Santo also aimed at reducing carbon footprint, waste management and tackling water and energy consumptions. All this was possible through the close collaboration of different Departments of the Municipality of Murcia, of the Local Municipal Board, the local NGOs and the Municipal and Regional business organizations. By consolidating the equality perspective in all areas during the different phases, the neighbourhood became more liveable for its inhabitants, more work opportunities were created, with a directs impact on the decrease of crime and abandonment in the neighbourhood.

Lisbon shares another remarkable experience, that brought to the creation of our project partner CLLD Network, an important component of the Bip/Zip program of the City Council. The Lisbon Local Development Strategy for Priority Intervention Areas is an ongoing program providing the city with a range of integrated tools for regeneration based on a co-governance process. It organises and brings together a bottom-up participatory process, that ensures a horizontal and collaborative local approach, aiming at decreasing social, economic, environmental and cultural exclusion in the city. It does so through four complementary instruments: the BIP/ZIP Mapping, which identifies the priority intervention territories through multi-data analysis; the BIP/ZIP Program, which funds local community projects aimed to respond to local needs identified also by the mapping; the GABIP local offices, which develop a co-governance framework involving Municipality, Local Boroughs and all relevant stakeholders and citizens organisations; and finally the CLLD network, that develops a global strategy for the BIP/ZIP territories. Between 2011 and 2016 the total budget of €9.207.754 funded 232 projects that gathered 532 organisations around projects effecting 98.600 inhabitants each year. This toolkit helped Lisbon establish its own path in involving civic participation and co-governance to ignite a sustainable Urban Local Development.

This is only a bright start to what is still ahead of these cities, starting from the development of their Integrated Action Plans for the elaboration of a digital communication strategy of their local work, and going towards the creation of new transfer networks on their given topics. Keep up the good work!

Daniela Patti

Lead Expert