Lioce
Raffaella
Validated Lead Expert
Generic Skills
B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:
Architect, for over 15 years, working as external funds raiser, project manager, expert in territorial marketing and local development.
Member of the research unit of the IUAV University: “PPP for cities competitiveness: evaluation tools and patterns for urban development programs”.
Since 1998 I am professor at the Universities of Venice, where I teach Economic evaluation of plans, Territorial marketing, EU project design and management.
Combining skills and knowhow acquired during my professional life, I designed and managed several projects co funded by the EU (in particular Interreg, Life, Erasmus+), in the filed of urban and cultural heritage rehabilitation programs, local development, landscape and sustainable tourism. The comprehensive dimension of sustainable, smart and inclusive growth has been at the core of those project, developed to help territories to become more resilient to physical, social, and economic challenges, being healthy place to live and more attractive for investors.
Aware that the complexity dimension of cities can be understood through different and integrated dimensions (health & wellbeing, economy & society, leadership & strategy, infrastructure & environment, culture & landscape), I assume creative thinking as my favorite method to territorial plans and to services design.
In such contexts, I assisted public/private operators, stakeholders and stockholders to foster proactive plans to effectively respond to the XXI century challenges.
B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:
Teaching and working at the Venice Universities (IUAV,VIU, Ca’Foscari) at University of Ferrara, at Superior School of P.A. and many other long learning organizations, I am used to design formal and non-formal learning processes.
Working as project/communication manager and transnational coordinator of several EU co-funded projects, I organized and coordinated many workshops with the purpose to develop exchange schemes and learning process at transnational level. My role during the workshops varied, from moderator, to facilitator and expert speaker; anytime my approach is oriented to facilitate the exchange of practices and knowhow between partners and territorial stakeholders to promote sustainable development. In order to enable partners to work together and find suitable solutions to common challenges, I adopt different methodologies: GOPP, EASW, Circus, RolePlay… and diverse visualization designing tools to create an open environment in which everyone is able to contribute and to structure the process of learning and co-planning. These include: maps, calendars, matrices, rivers, trees and other diagrams. Learning from other practices requires not simply listening to other experiences, but also the will to capitalize, improve and take advance from existing solutions, as well as, the commitment to do better and give others a positive feedback. It means working in an helpful cycle, where everybody plans, does, acts and checks, to progress all participants skills.
B.3. Proficiency in English:
During my time at university, I spent some months in London to improve my English knowledge. Actually, it was elaborating and managing EU projects, that my English improved to a level that allows me to interact with people coming from different EU countries.
I elaborated and managed several EU co funded projects: in the majority of the project I worked on behalf of the lead partner/main beneficiary. In this context, I organized and chaired a lot of transnational workshops, facing different topics: project communication and management, exchange learning schemes, participatory methodologies, cultural heritage rehabilitation, urban regeneration process, sustainable tourism, landscape planning, environmental education and decisional support systems.
I have also coordinated/edited publications in English and elaborated scientific papers and good practices reports (for ex.: Villas; Cultural Territorial Marketing; -2Bparks mainstream, ). I wrote newsletters and website contents related to several EU co-funded projects.
During the last decade, I have been invited as moderator or speaker at transnational conferences and symposium.
Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
Summary Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
My experience in EU projects dates back to 1998, when I collaborated in 3 INTERREG IIA projects, concerned environment, urban landscape and local development. Then I designed and managed several Interreg projects, where exchange schemes were used for both learning and co-planning. Often those schemes overpassed the level of learning in favor of interactive methods: Action learning, conceptual maps, GOPP and gamification. Learning schemes are a step by step process. First: brainstorming or consultation to understand people, issues, needs and opportunities and to tailor the most suitable learning approach. Secondly: teambuilding session; third: workshops including activities in no formal environment, as happened during the 2BParks project when a workshop has been held in a small island closed to PO river mouth and the youths and researchers Educamp has been organized in Marathona Pinewoods.
When possible I use videos, ITC and graphic tools to support the exchange of knowledge amid interested parties (ex.: Sourcebooks).
Actually, coordinating an EU project entails capacities to deal first with persons and then with organizations. In such context, I embrace an agile creative management approach, trying to adapt the situation on going, delegating and empowering partners, but always having in mind the project objectives to be reached in a fixed time.
Thematic expertise:
Theme / Policy:
Integrated Urban Renewal
Summary Thematic expertise:
The objective of urban renewal represents a must for my professional life, and it was always at the core of the EU projects I designed. Two examples: VILLAS provided an innovative evaluation tool to asses the most sustainable economic use for abandoned architectonical and the renewal process of historical complexes; CULTEMA, adopted a larger perspective, moving from the single cultural asset to a urban context and delivered a further assessment tool to assist the elaboration of LDPP (Local Development Pilot Plans) proposed for an integrated rehabilitation and renewal processes of the areas addressed. I was involved in both project as project manager, evaluation expert and architect with experience in participation process and urban and cultural renewal. Actually I supported several public authorities in strategic planning and environmental assessment, not only within EU projects, taking part at the elaboration of Spatial and landscape plans, restoration works and assessment of engineering important works.
Expertise support to local authorities and other stakeholders in designing & delivering integrated and participatory policies
E.1. Knowledge on participatory methods and tools for co-production and implementation of local polices :
I was charged as designer, planner and coordinator of urban participatory laboratories by the Municipality of Portogruaro and the Province of Venice, during the preparation of the spatial plan of the municipality of Portogruaro. The participation has been organized with both a traditional approach to territorial stakeholders and an innovative gender approach to communities. Institutional Workshops have been organized at municipality premise, while community involvement has been implemented in different places such as school and other no formal contexts. We have also provided support for children in order to let also mothers to participate at the city design and to re-think the places with a living and time perspective innovating the traditional approach to urban spaces. I scheduled the process with a step by step logic. Starting from the analysis of urban problems perceived by the participant, we then try to image new forms to live and stay in Portogruaro. Participants have been stimulated to take part at the planning process using pictures of places and or situation representing both a problem or an opportunity. We used maps, post it, canva to share ideas and proposals , we then wrote a join and shared documents for planners. What happened was that the document born from community participation is elaborated with a daily and common language, not spatial neither technical. So I start a process of “translation” of community needs into a spatial tool or policy hints.
E.2. Knowledge on integrated approach for the design, delivering, monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies/policies:
Charged as evaluation expert within the POLY5 project, I coordinated the working team and the expert panel to design an assessment tool in order to appraise, during the strategic planning or the preliminary design phases, the landscape impacts of MIT, crossing both urban and rural areas. The monitoring assessment tool was created through matrixes and multi criteria tool, then exported in a open GIS on G.Earth. The experience was quite innovative and can be capitalized. Landscape in this tool has been considered as place of human an nature interaction, of community identity and historic social dimention.
E.3. Awareness of the main policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level:
Always connected to main institutional web sites (national and European) and always searching for studies, researches and best practices in Europe. This is me! Actually I try to monitor opportunities generated by European Programmes and understanding their applicability at the contexts I work for, as well as I need to check relevance of project ideas and ensure added value. In particular EU Web pages related to cohesion policy and structural funds are the ones I check more regularly. I am also interested in other policies that can have a spatial and economic dimension: public health (healthy city), integration of immigrants (migration portal, EUfor citizens), Blue and green growth and SME supporting action, research (Horizon2020), environment and biodiversity (Life, Civil protection instrument,) skills and capacity development for a inclusive growth (Erasmus+)…
I believe that nowadays also social networks can become useful tools for update and for information exchange between groups sharing similar interest. I subscribe different EU groups and liked the pages of main EU programmes. I receive newsletter from EU programmes management bodies (JS; EU agencies, APRE, …) and from national contact points. As well as whenever it is possible I participate at Info day.
E.4. Ability to understand specific local situations and adapt tools and content to different local realities:
All the projects I designed and coordinated included participatory process. Participation was finalized to better reach the project scope and ensure the follow up.
I can now tell about the Cultema Project where the partnership was mainly made of central level authorities (Ministries and Regions), but the focus was on peripheral areas and local contexts. There was a high need to adapt tools designed by experts charged by Ministries to local context, as well as, it was very important to involve local communities but maintaining the transnational perspective always alive.
First the approach to the Local Development Pilot Plans has been shared at the transnational scale then it was developed at local level, consistency with territorial Agenda and the Ljubljana Process. Results has been included in a transnational territorial marketing plan, where diversities have been respected and the European Dimension enhanced.
Summary Expertise:
Before launching a participatory process, I start understanding target groups and the expected results of participation. This phase is essential for the success of the process, as well as, it is vital the closure phase, when the outputs must be included into programs and policies. People taking part are not experts in the matters: they often provide points of view and proposals that difficultly can be included in an urban plan. It is necessary, what I call: “the conversion of participation outputs into planning actual inputs”. This operation needs capacity to listen, interpreting stakeholder’s voices and translating into technical languages and recommendations. That what I am able to do: planning, facilitate, explain and translate of the participation process.
Thanks to many years of experiences in coordinating participation groups, at local and transnational levels, I am able to plan details, but most of all, to adapt them to several situations should occur. It always depends on the “chemical reaction” between people and topics, divergent needs and perspectives, cultural differences and strategies discussed. Remarkable, it was the gender participation process, I planned and coordinated with the aim to improve a urban spatial plan. Not aware about spatial plan, it was surprising the results obtained in terms of planning solutions ideas. It happens because participation has been supported by experts able to translate messages into operative solutions ready for spatial planner
Informations
Residence location:
Italy
Languages:
Italian - Mother tongue
Foreign Languages level:
Foreign languages:
Email:
pm.studio45@gmail.com; studio.raffaellalioce@gmail.com