Shrinking regions and cities are becoming a more and more relevant issue in central Europe. Especially former border regions (Iron curtain) are particularly affected by demographic and social change. On the other hand these regions have large potentials which have to be explored and used. The consequences of demographic change and increasing scarcity of public resources thus require a fundamental review and adjustment of the management and standards of public services and infrastructure in these regions and cities. It has been identified in many studies that demographic change is one of the new global issues that especially central European countries and regions are now facing. Regions need a sufficient framework to be able to share experiences and information and to adapt to the relevant changes in order to be more competitive, more productive and more innovative. The overall goal of ADAPT2DC is to develop transferable strategies for the provision of innovative solutions to restructure the management of services and infrastructure in shrinking regions and cities and thus support the sustainable development of European regions by adapting integrated measures and strategies for regional problems on the transnational level. Achievements: ADAPT2DC aims to provide innovative solutions for the provision and management of infrastructures. The background is that a decline of populations in many regions of Central Europe leads to a decline in (tax) incomes for municipalities, but the municipalities are still expected to provide all necessary infrastructures, from public busses to kindergartens, from hospitals to roads. The project does not focus only on one single infrastructure but addresses most technical and social infrastructure. The first step was a scientific background analysis. Here it was attempted to gather data on infrastructure costs in order to compare the structures of service provision across Central Europe. At this point a ""socio-economic background report"" is available which analyzes demographic developments across Central Europe. A Delphi study was also conducted among experts from the different countries. The evaluation of this survey is currently being conducted. The second step are pilot actions. There is one pilot action in every participating country and these are all in the process of being implemented. Each pilot action concerns one particular field of infrastructure and the goal is to find cost-efficient solutions for the future management. To give a few examples: In Poland the pilot action focuses on telemedicine. In Hungary a study aims to identify the most efficient solution for the distribution of childcare facilities across the pilot region. In the Czech Republic the focus is on saving energy costs in public buildings. The experiences from the pilot actions are so far summarized in two documents, firstly a “Regional Guidebook - Methods to adapt to or counterbalance shrinking”, which presents the goals of the individual pilot actions, and secondly a “Transnational guidebook for pilot Action implementation”, which summarizes overarching “lessons learnt”, i.e. general guidelines which shall be respected when implementing pilot actions. A catalogue of best practice examples across Europe is also available. The final step of the project is the development of policy options. For this purpose, a “Strategic Expert Team” is established which includes scientists who study different infrastructures. This team will work together to suggest the most appropriate solutions and to assess the transferability of measures to other countries/regions. So far they have analysed strategic policy documents of the pilot regions to extract overarching recommendations, and they are currently working on a “European Strategy” which presents possible solutions for all of Central Europe. Regional Action Plans are also being established. At the end the results will be presented in “study tours”.