Ian
Turner
Validated Lead Expert
Generic Skills
B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:
I have extensive experience of working with a wide range of local authorities in Europe (and Africa) as well as other stakeholders (local energy agencies, civil society organisations, universities and research centres). My first experience started in 2006 with the IMAGINE initiative. IMAGINE focused on developing the concept of “low-energy city with a high quality of life for all” in order to contribute to enriching the reflections and strategies of social, institutional and economic players at all levels. I was part of the facilitation team that once a year brought together different actors from all walks of life at the royal saltworks in the east of France. At these meetings we worked on issues such as backcasting or the development of local long-term 2050 visions, strategies and action plans. From 2010 I have been the project manager for ENGAGE, a pan-European communications initiative that seeks to engage citizens and stakeholders at a local level to play their part in building a sustainable energy future (www.citiesengage.eu). In this role I have been able to support local authorities with their internal processes to move forward from silo work and thinking to co-creation processes via inter-departmental meetings, co-developed strategies and action plans. In the year that I was working South Africa I also gave support to sub-saharan African local Authorities with the external, bottom-up process of involving citizens and key stakeholders and the link to their SEAPs.
B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:
I have over 15 years of experience in transnational exchange and networking with local authorities mostly thanks to my work at Energy Cities (European association of local authorities in energy transition) but also thanks to my work in South Africa.
Since 2005 my core work for over a decade was working on the Display® Campaign, the first and most widespread European Campaign to encourage municipalities to publicly display environmental performances of their municipal buildings. This campaign was based on a bottom-up process of European cities choosing the best process to produce energy certificates for public buildings prior to the transposition of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). This focus on exchange and learning between cities from numerous different members states allowed for the design of a simple and communicative building certificate that is still proudly used by local authorities over 15 years since the start of the campaign.
I am currently the project manager for ACE-retrofitting an Interreg project in North West Europe helping cities to boost energy retrofits in condominiums. The focus of this project is the replication of the approach used by the city of Paris to the cities of Aberdeen (UK), Antwerp (BE), Liège (BE), Frankfurt (DE) and Maastricht (NL). The core work involved is exchange and learning.
B.3. Proficiency in English:
My mother tongue is English and since starting at Energy Cities I have been involved in the final English check of key Energy Cities’ documents.
- I have also been an author or co-author of numerous Energy Cities’ publications. Here is the link to the latest document that I helped edit and write: https://energy-cities.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Guide_ACE_EN_web.pdf.
- During my sabbatical year in South Africa in 2017 I Edited the third iteration of a practical how-to handbook for local municipalities on the roll-out of sustainable energy measures in South Africa - Sustainable Energy Solutions for Local Government ( A Practical Guide. (http://www.cityenergy.org.za/uploads/resource_434.pdf).
- I am often responsible for the facilitation of workshops, conferences and steering committee meetings in English.
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:
As a project manager at Energy Cities since 2005, I am frequently responsible for organising workshops and networking activities as well as guidelines and recommendations for local authorities that are members of at Energy Cities, the European city network that defends a locally driven energy transition.
I am experienced in managing and coordinating numerous European projects (under diverse programmes such as Intelligent Energy Europe, H2020, and INTERREG NEW. I have experience on ensuring the replication of best practice and know-how in the framework of major peer-to-peer projects, such as mPOWER and Energy Allies.
Within the above mentioned projects, I have organised numerous peer to peer reviews, workshops, site visits, transfer and monitoring as well as online networking (webinars, online exchange platforms).
I have used the following facilitation methods: world café, open space technology, fish bowl, hold-up, speed dating, icebreakers and multi-voting/ranking.
I have extensive experience in research and analysis of local best practices, preparing case studies and analysing their replication potential to other local contexts, inspiring other local authorities and their stakeholders and citizens.
Thematic expertise:
Theme / Policy:
Local Governance
Summary Thematic expertise:
Trained as a human geographer who first specialised in Environment Management and then in the Energy Transition, I have strong expertise on local governance having worked closely with local authorities in Africa and Europe for the last 20 years. I am particularly interested in the participation of civil society via different processes such as local energy forums and poster campaigns. For the last 15 years I have been a project manager at Energy Cities, a European association of local authorities in energy transition. Energy Cities gathers approximately 200 individual members as well as collective members, representing 1000 local authorities in EU 28. In this framework I have coordinated city to city cooperation, thematic twinning and working groups.
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 have extensive experience of working with a wide range of local authorities in Europe (and Africa). My first job as a consultant after my masters was to assist the Richtersveld Municipality to produce their Integrated Development Plan in 2001 and 2002. This involved an intensive public participation process. When I started working for Energy Cities in 2005 I worked on Display, a European campaign designed to prepare local authorities for the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive. As a city network we worked with our members to develop a a voluntary labelling scheme as an information tool to raise the public awareness on energy and environment related questions. The tool was entirely guided by what the cities needed and instead of a technical certification process they chose for the label to be communicative in order to stimulate users of public buildings to change behaviour and be a part of the solution to better performing buildings.
I am currently managing the ACE retrofitting project focussing on condominiums. The aim is to encourage local government to work with this complicated but highly strategic sector. It thus involves a highly participative process with both the supply and demand sector. As part of the project I assisted the University of Maastricht in the development of the step-by-step tools https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/accelerating-condominium-energy-retrofitting-ace-retrofitting/#tab-4.
E.2. Knowledge on integrated approach for the design, delivering, monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies/policies:
I was involved in the first stages of the IMAGINE initiative from 2006. IMAGINE focused on developing the concept of “low-energy city with a high quality of life for all” in order to contribute to enriching the reflections and strategies of social, institutional and economic players at all levels. I was part of the facilitation team that once a year brought together different actors from all walks of life at the royal saltworks in the east of France. At these meetings we worked on issues such as backcasting or the development of local long-term 2050 visions, strategies and action plans. From 2010 I have been the project manager for ENGAGE, a pan-European communications initiative that seeks to engage citizens and stakeholders at a local level to play their part in building a sustainable energy future. As part of this campaign we guide local authorities to run a PR campaign alongside energy saving and monitoring initiatives as it will maximise awareness and impact. The ENGAGE poster tool thus included guidelines for monitoring the Carbon saved by the individuals or groups involved in the Campaign. In this role I have been able to support local authorities to involve citizens and stakeholders in their Sustainable Energy Action Plan.
E.3. Awareness of the main policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level:
Energy Cities has a dedicated EU policy team that regularly provide us with updates on EU policy. As a network we also have national city networks that are able to keep us up to speed on key national policy development.
From 2012 to 2016 I was the head of the project management team and oversaw the team responsible for preparing and managing projects or campaigns involving Energy Cities’ members and strategic partners. I managed the bidding process either for existing EU funding schemes such as Intelligent energy Europe (now HORIZON 2020), INTERREG or URBACT or EU service contracts.
I am currently part of the project check list. This group is responsible for deciding on new projects that Energy Cities will join. This allows me to have a broad overview of funding opportunities.
E.4. Ability to understand specific local situations and adapt tools and content to different local realities:
In 2017 I returned to South Africa and was involved in the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa initiative. As I had previous experience working on the Covenant of Mayors in Eastern Europe with Energy Cities I was able to adapt my knowledge to a completely different context. In Africa there is a greater need to focus on access to clean and affordable Energy. Also in a lot of the cities we visited adaptation is a key problem. With the Capacity building workshops that I helped facilitate we chose to bring important stakeholders around a map of the city and allow them to identify points on the map where there were particular challenges linked to access, adaptation and mitigation. An important aspect of these workshops was the focus on work with civil society which was facilitated with a Senegalese partner, Enda Energie (http://www.endaenergie.org/). I was part of the team that carried out workshops in Kampala (Uganda), Communauté des Communes de Zou (Benin), Tsévié (Togo), Dakar and Pikine (Senegal) and Lubumbashi (DRC). As one of my key roles was to help with gathering data linked to Carbon consumption a lot of time was spent providing advice on carrying out questionnaires and sourcing data from different public organisations.
Summary Expertise:
I have almost 20 years of experience working with a wide range of local authorities in Europe (and Africa). My first job as a consultant after my masters was to assist the Richtersveld Municipality to produce their Integrated Development Plan in 2002 and the review in 2003. This involved an intensive public participation process. From 2005 I have been working for Energy Cities allowing me to broaden my work experience and specialise in the field of local governance and the energy transition. Energy Cities gathers approximately 200 individual members as well as collective members, representing 1000 local authorities in EU 28. As a project manager I have been able to work on a diverse range of projects focussing on public building certification, citizen engagement, participative communication, local long term visions, sustainable energy planning. I am also experienced in using several facilitation techniques in practice in order to ensure large scale involvement and participation. This includes world café, fishbowl and holdup.
Working for a network my core duties are to share and replicate best practice in an international context. My academic training as a human geographer specialising in environmental management has also helped me to be a 'generalist' with an integrated approach.
Informations
Residence location:
France
Languages:
English - Mother tongue
Foreign Languages level:
Foreign languages:
Email:
ian.turner@energy-cities.eu