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Manager Coordinating Brownfield Redevelopment Acti.. (COBRA MAN)
Manager Coordinating Brownfield Redevelopment Activities
(COBRA MAN)
Start date: Nov 30, 2008,
End date: Dec 30, 2011
PROJECT
FINISHED
In times of increasing urban sprawl also due to negative environmental impacts the need for preservation of green land is rising. Effective management of revitalisation processes and related tools are the urban contribution to growth and jobs within cities and regions. Moreover it strives to combat related social and spatial segregation threatening the competitiveness of Central European cities. It is a key to improve the quality of life and the environment in urban areas and to promote a more balanced urban development of cities and regions. All over Europe revitalisation of brown field sites plays an important role in avoiding urban sprawl and improving the quality of urban environment, thereby helping to create the conditions necessary for sustainable development. Brownfield land endangers public health and creates environmental risks. Rehabilitation will be of growing importance in the Central Europe member states, which requires large investments. Brownfield revitalisation is often long term, complex, and involves a wide range of professional disciplines, political actors and different stakeholder groups. There is a need for professional process management to steer revitalisation processes. No related professional or education standards exist yet. Methodological tools, training for practitioners and study courses are needed for capacity building. There is demand on know-how-transfer, both horizontal between different national expertise and vertical from research into daily practise. Creation of training and educational schemes needs close cooperation between experienced academics from more European countries. As regeneration is a matter of international business, comparison of different political, cultural and technical forms and ways of best solutions is essential. The co-operation of universities and public bodies administrating brown fields decisively influences the success of the project. Transnational co-operation enables to share best practices, to define verified methods and apply them in practical cases and to offer them in a European framework to others. Achievements: The main aim of the COBRAMAN was to assist municipalities in managing post-industrial sites. All the achievements of COBRAMAN project work were presented during the Bydgoszcz final conference in April 2012. It brought together all actors dealing with the brownfield issues and closed the implementation with a debate on the brownfield management in Europe. It was attended by 181 people throughout the two days with 9 countries of representation (PL, CZ, IT, SI, AT, DE, NL, N- IRL, SE). Presentations are available at the conference website www.cobraman-ce.eu/finalconference. Partnership issued the brochure called “Brownfield regeneration management. From education to practice” that gives information on brownfield manager professional profile, knowledge base and management instruments, training seminars for brownfield managers, pilot activities and educational programmes. The conclusion is one, the success of brownfield regeneration and effective renewal lies in the hands of brownfield managers from European cities. Project activities resulted in elaborating recommendations on organisational positioning of the brownfield manager and profiling the “brownfield regeneration manager” profession. The managers successfully coordinated pilot activities: Bydgoszcz case shows the environmental aspect of the revitalization. Ground contaminated of 150 years of industrial use was cleaned up through excavation and bioremediation process. The site development was finished in 2012 and now it has become the recreation area. In Kranj brownfield planning issues were investigated. In the end, in the heart of the brownfield area, partner from Slovenia built the Information Point to promote brownfield redevelopment to potential investors and general public. Opening ceremony took place in May 2012. In Stuttgart partner organized strategy workshop on the degraded area to turn development visions into marketing campaigns. Citizens were invited to participate in the development activities. Over 60 participants discussed ideas for the future use of the former contaminated industrial site. The investments were paramount, but it was the purpose of the European School for Brownfield Redevelopment to ensure that its graduates would be able to manage brownfield development in the future. In total 207 students successfully completed two cycles of non-accredited training course in Ostrava, while in Bydgoszcz 35 students participated in postgraduate accredited study. Evaluation results confirmed the effectiveness of the courses. Moreover, education boundaries were downsized by the COBRAMAN project with the last e-learning modules on urban planning and culture heritage.