Special Report - OP-ACT, tackling decline in Europe's smaller cities

Designed to provide its 11 partners with 'Options for Action', OP-ACT brings together cities that are typically facing three common problems: changing demographics, a deteriorating local economy and the current financial crisis. As is clear from the experiences of the project partners Leoben in Austria, along with Medias in Romania and Dabrowa Gornicza in Poland, each has its own complexities.

Falling population leads to drop in services

The demographic challenge is one of ageing residents – more than 30% of the EU population will be over-65 by 2050 – combined with the loss of young people to larger cities. The economic problem is posed by areas that were once heartlands of heavy industry, but which have seen sites close as Europe moves towards a more service economy. Finally, local authorities are enduring funding cuts at a time when the demographics and weaker local economy mean there are also fewer businesses, thereby reducing local tax receipts. The effects are felt in various ways; from declining transport, social and cultural services, to growing social integration issues and reduced employment and youth opportunities.

The URBACT project OP-ACT has divided its response to these challenges into five 'Work Packages', though cities are encouraged to combine them wherever possible, so as to treat regeneration in a holistic way. These are:

1. Stabilising finances after the crisis and finding a new branding or ‘narrative’ for promoting the city.
2. Social inclusion; including the elderly, education for the unemployed young, and migrant communities.
3. Economic growth. Supporting existing businesses and attracting new ones, and developing sustainable tourism.
4. Living conditions. Improving housing, local infrastructure and creating new recreation areas.
5. Site advantages. Making the most of sites of interest or expertise, and building partnerships with other municipalities.

Guided by these Work Packages, each OP-ACT partner develops a Local Action Plan. Progress on these plans was the subject of the OP-ACT partners' last meeting, held at Legazpi, Spain from March 5-7. The session was an opportunity to exchange ideas and share experiences, allowing partners such as Leoben, Medias and Dabrowa Gornicza to present the range of activities being planned.
 
Developing a creative environment for young people in Leoben

For Wolfgang Domian, Lead Partner of OP-ACT and general manager of Leoben city services, the project fits neatly into a bigger picture. "The Local Action Plan is not a standalone solution – it's linked with the overall plan of the city," he said. One of its key features is to provide a Creative Workshop (Kreativwerkstatt) in Leoben– a place for artists, musicians, designers and the performing arts, along with freelancers working in the media and IT. Funding and advice for small businesses would also be on hand. "We carried out a survey among local schools and up to 50% of pupils wanted to stay in the region – but they wanted a creative space to develop in," Wolfgang Domian said. Leoben clearly wants to keep its young people, rather than to see them leave, and offering prospects in the creative industries would be a major attraction. A site has now been identified.

The Kreativwerkstatt fits in with Work Packages 2 and 3 of Leoben's Local Action Plan. However, it is not the only plan to span more than one area. A site advantage is that the city's industrial presence means that it is home to a large number of retired high-level engineers – ideal for mentoring young entrepreneurs as 'Business Angels'. Changing the narrative and involving the migrant community has meanwhile led to plans to create a spice market at Leoben. Further plans include a 'senior citizen campus' and information centre, along with improved housing – notably for smaller apartments and loft conversions that would appeal to young people.

For Wolfgang Domian, the plans complement the approach of the city authority. "We've done a lot of work in the last 10 years and URBACT and OP-ACT take those developments forward very well. And I think it's the same for the other partner cities. They regain hope and that's the important thing; not to cry about the situation we're in but to find good solutions, to stabilise and to survive."

A feasibility study for lakeside development at Dabrowa Gornicza

As other cities finalise their own Local Action Plans, it's clear that a number of different factors come into play. For Dabrowa Gornicza, the focus is on writing a new narrative even though the local steel industry still plays a major role in the local economy. In particular, the city is hoping to develop the tourism potential of four former opencast mines that have since been turned into lakes. To date, work has only been carried out on two of them, Pogoria III and IV. The starting point for the Local Action Plan is therefore a feasibility study on whether this 'green tourism' concept could be expanded and could achieve the objectives of attracting visitors not only from the city and surrounding Katowice agglomeration, but also from further afield.

So far, the lakes development has been limited, with a single asphalt cycle path of around four kilometres and a small sailing activity. The idea is to find investors for a Public-Private Partnership to further develop the watersports - to include electric motor boats, an expanded sailing base and rowing - and to build more cycle paths. Waterside restaurants, hotel accommodation - which is in short supply - and a new branding exercise would also need to be factored in.

Linking training with local businesses in Medias

Branding will also be part of the Local Action Plan for Medias, where the challenge is to help provide a new skills base to attract new businesses and to arrest a decline in population. This industrial town of 55,000 has lost about 10,000 people over the past two decades as well-educated job-seekers left for the main regional city of Sibiu, Bucharest or abroad. The result is a labour market still focused on traditional industrial employment – such as the assembly and manufacture of parts for the automotive industry - and lacking in the skills needed for the new creative and knowledge-based industries.

As a result, Medias' Local Action Plan will focus on forging closer links between the state educational/training sector with local enterprise, so that the labour force can adapt to the needs of existing businesses and those which the city wants to attract. Other features of the plan will be to set up an office providing advice to would-be entrepreneurs and to further enhance a support centre established in the last few years to help develop those links between colleges and local employers. The centre has meanwhile been working on branding exercises to improve the image of Medias and would also be a vehicle in future to deliver training in creative industries and IT, notably in multimedia.
 
An option for regional development would be to invest in the tourism potential of the city’s historic centre, along with the area’s castles and mansions. Medias could be promoted for its intrinsic site advantages and also as a gateway to Transylvania, thereby creating a source of service sector employment.

OP-ACT has clearly set an agenda for change in areas that are facing an uncertain future, yet which can often struggle to make a clean break with the past. As Hanns-Uve Schwedler, Lead Expert for OP-ACT, explained: "In most of our partner cities people still have their industrial heritage and history firmly in their minds, and it affects policymaking. Saying goodbye to the idea of being an industrial city really is an issue for them."

The next steps for this URBACT project are a 20-22 June meeting in Altena, Germany to discuss economic growth, followed by one in Medias from 10-12 September to allow partners to discuss their Local Action Plans, which are to be presented at a final OP-ACT conference at Leoben, 7-8 November.

Read more:

• OP-ACT - URBACT website