Oil is running short, traffic volume is increasing

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1 # May 2011 Bundesprogramm 03Newsletter Transnationale Zusammenarbeit a newsletter of selected projects within the Federal Programme Transnational Cooperation Oswald Fürtsch, Pixelio THEMES Regional Development by Innovative Transport Projects SoNorA, SCANDRIA, TRANSITECTS, Via Regia Plus Page 2 3 Spatial Planning Strategies to Adapt to Climate Change BaltSeaPlan, BALLAST WATER OPPORTUNITY Page 4 Regional Development by Innovative Transport Projects INTER-Regio-Rail Page 5 Oil is running short, traffic volume is increasing and in view of the greenhouse effect the CO 2 emissions have to be minimized dramatically. In this context, traffic turns out to be an international issue, since it provides for integration of all regions and forms the base of our economy and society. In its recently published transport White Paper, the European Commission in this context enumerates different strategies and future visions that are to make the European traffic system more competitive and more sustainable until It strives for a homogenous European transport area, a core network of corridors in the fields of freight and passenger transport as well as for new technologies and a sustainable attitude, considering the diminishing resources. Supporting regional development by innovative transport instruments is the main focus of many projects that are promoted by the Federal Programme Transnational Cooperation. Thus, the projects SonNorA, TRANSITECTS and SCANDRIA focus on linking up the regions between the Baltic and the Adriatic Sea with a stress on using environmentally friendly solutions and cooperation potentials. With a study about investments in the railway infrastructure along the European west-east-axis, the project Via Regia Plus proves that the extension of transport corridors must become even more transnational to develop its full efficiency. The efforts of the regional rail transport project INTER-Regio-Rail for better political basic conditions show that the regional rail transport can only work properly as a pan-european concern. According to the White Paper, more than half of the traffic shall be shifted to railways and shipping until The latter aspect is significant for BaltSeaPlan and Ballast Water Opportunity. These projects concentrate on maritime spatial planning and deal with the consequences of a higher traffic volume for the ecosystems of our seas. Enjoy reading! The DV Team DATES 18 May 2011 SoNorA Workshop The economic Area Saxony - Bohemia - Lower Silesia. Potentials and Challenges Dresden May 2011 SoNorA Project Meeting Knowledge Management with Clustered Projects Venice 20 May 2011 BaltSeaPlan Open workshop at the European Maritime Day Towards coherent Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic Sea Gdansk (Poland) 25 May 2011 Urb.Energy Discussion Meeting Sustainable energy solutions in the urban and regional context Brussels June 2011 LABEL Elbe without borders. Flood risk prevention in the LABEL and SAWA projects Hamburg Please see the projects websites at the last page to get more information. This newsletter informs about the Federal Programme Transnational Cooperation. With this programme, the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development supports German project partners in European projects of strategic political relevance for the Federal Governement on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development. More Information on the Federal Programme at: or German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development DV-GmbH Heike Mages, Littenstraße 10, Berlin Phone +49 (0)30/ Fax +49 (0)30/ interreg@deutscher-verband.org

2 Regional Development by Innovative Transport Projects 2 SoNorA, SCANDRIA, TRANSITECTS: Green Corridors Organizing Freight Transport in a Resource-Efficient Way The White Paper Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area, recently published by the European Commission, focuses on the massive reduction of carbon emissions in transport. The concept of intelligent green corridors was also developed in this context. Both strategies aim at efficiency and sustainability, especially of the freight transport. This e.g. includes the optimisation of logistical processes, the intelligent use and integration of transport modes or the extensive shift of long-distance transport modes to environmentally friendly transport modes. Furthermore, concepts for freight transport meet the economic demand for security, reliability, cost efficiency and are the bases for regional as well as for international value chains and flows of goods. The projects SoNorA, TRANSI- TECTS and SCANDRIA, which are financed by the Federal Programme Transnational Cooperation, work along this approach. With their geographical focus on regions between the Baltic and the Adriatic Sea, they demonstrate which measures are necessary for a practical implementation of these aims: In the project TRANSITECTS, offers of combined transport as well as concepts for optimizing intermodal hubs in the Alpine region are developed. SoNorA deals with the structural improvement of the transboundary railway infrastructure, with intermodal hubs as well as with freight transport services in Central Europe. In the western Baltic Sea region, the eligibility of north-south connections as a green corridor for freight transport shall be proven within the framework of SCANDRIA. Innovative offers and services should support the integration of transport modes and the improvement of their environmental balance. Concrete interim results are regularly presented and discussed at conferences, workshops and specialized fairs. So the SCANDRIA midterm conference at the beginning of April 2011 in Malmo was characterized by the green corridor issue. It could be reported that supported by the project the ferry connection between Rostock and Gedser had been incorporated into the EU programme Motorways of the Sea. This had consequences for investments in ports. Besides, plans for the HUB 53/12 were presented, which is a regionally important hub between ports of the Baltic Sea and the southern landlocked country. Furthermore, analyses and appropriate planning for new block train connections between the Baltic and the Adriatic Sea were presented. The SoNorA project does not only develop infrastructure analyses and solutions for weak points but also organizes regional discussions between politicians, administrative and private sector representatives. According to the project, transport is first of all regarded as a way to exploit and to strengthen economic potentials. In this context, an event at Dresden on 18th May dealed with keeping skilled workers in the region, with potentials from cooperation projects and with political positions of transboundary regions. The importance of the green corridor for economy and science will be brought up at a conference in Berlin at the beginning of November It is about how to combine

3 3 Via Regia Plus A Study on the Internationalization of Railway Connections intelligent freight transport with products and services. The importance of an efficient transport system for the whole corridor between the Baltic and the Adriatic Sea and the need for political-structural support should become clear so that prevailing potentials can be activated. The transport logistics fair on May 2011 in Munich as well served as an important platform for the presentation and discussion of project results. The projects or relevant project partners were represented with stands and events like rounds of talks or conferences. On 10th May, the midterm conference of the TRANSI- TECTS project with the title Innovative logistic solutions for combined transport took place. Concrete approaches for the transalpine railway freight transport and intermodal nodes were presented. The attractiveness of the concepts developed within the project was discussed with stakeholders in the sectors of logistics and politics. The focal point was accompanied and unaccompanied combined transport services. Examples illustrated among other things the positive environmental effects of shifting transport away from the road to the railway. Furthermore, the concepts include techniques how goods can be shifted from one transport mode to another. Each of the presented projects has its own spatial and thematic focus and therefore creates specific solutions. Besides, these projects cooperate closely with each other and further INTERREG IV B transport projects. One element of this cooperation is the discussion forum Greening the European transport network at the transport logistic. During one hour, the main stakeholders of the projects TRANSITECTS, So- NorA, SCANDRIA and BATCo (Baltic-Adriatic-Transport Cooperation) discussed about techniques, strategies, and spatial approaches, about synergies, potentials for cooperation as well as about appropriate distinctions. This process of cooperation will be continued at the end of May in Venice in the framework of a project workshop, in which further INTERREG IVB projects will also be integrated. The Via Regia Plus project was developed against the background of the relative bad transport connections along the historic trade route. The reason was the European separation and the related neglect of infrastructure in the westeast corridor between cities like Dresden, Wroclaw and the Ukrainian Lviv. Under the lead partnership of Wroclaw, the project promotes a sustainable transport system and regional cooperation along this corridor. Therefore, the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior together with the project partners examined how investments in the railway infrastructure affect the accessibility along the Via Regia. Already started and financially secured building works as well as national and cross-border future projects in the area of high-speed transport were considered in the investigation. The study demonstrates that specific investments may lead to attractive overall travel times in the field of passenger transport between the node cities. It also emphasizes that states, countries and regions mainly focus on the related local transport. In total, it becomes clear that extension measures regarding the infrastructure are not enough European. National planning schemes have to be replenished by an international perspective, so that the whole corridor Via Regia can profit from improved accessibility and the boundaries between Saxony and Lower Silesia will not prevent spatial development in both regions anymore.

4 Spatial Planning Strategies to Adapt to Climate Change 4 BaltSeaPlan Towards the Sustainable Planning of Baltic Sea Space BALLAST WATER OPPORTUNITY Dealing with the Introduction of New Organisms into European Seas The Baltic Sea with its unique fragile ecosystem is subject to a multitude of human uses such as shipping, fishery, wind farms or mineral extraction. All of them are competing for the limited sea space giving rise to potential conflicts among these interests and with environmental values. A wise, pro-active Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) could not only avoid conflicts, but also create synergies and thus lay the basis for a sustainable maritime development. Moving away from the first come first serve tradition MSP could lead to a more coherent, forward-looking allocation of maritime space. The project BaltSeaPlan promotes the introduction of this tool by developing a series of draft Maritime Spatial Plans within the Baltic Sea. These seven pilot Plans are based on detailed impact analyses of national & international sectoral strategies on the sea area a collection and generation of information on current and future uses & natural values an analysis of resulting conflicts intensive stakeholder involvement the application of new modelling & mapping methods Furthermore BaltSeaPlan partners have jointly developed a Vision 2030 which will be for the first time presented on 20th May 2011 during the EU Maritime Day in Gdansk. The Vision shows that a healthy marine environment, a coherent pan-baltic energy policy, sustainable fisheries and a safe, clean and efficient maritime transport are all pan-baltic topics. Aside from transnational thinking they require, a MSPcoordinating body which takes into account the whole Baltic Sea as one ecosystem where planners think in terms of spatial connectivity with regard to linear infrastructure, corridors and natural values. Ballast Water Opportunity is a key project providing regional cohesion in the North Sea region, encouraging innovation and developing future strategies in ballast water policies and ballast water management. About 90% of the EU s foreign trade are managed by cargo shipping and are going to increase by 6.6% annually according to a study conducted by the Hamburg Institute of Global Economy. Ballast water is filled in special tanks of the ships to guarantee proper stability when travelling with light loads. Connected with this, the introduction of new organisms into the European seas by ships ballast water also will increase. This could result in serious damages of native marine ecosystems. The immigration of alien species also involves serious economic consequences e.g. in fisheries. So, introduction of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens to new environments has been identified as one of the four greatest threats to the world s oceans by the International Maritime Organization. This problem should be solved by ratification of the international Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) adopted A precision of the required tools to implement the convention and guidelines are developed in the project. The results could be the basis for policy decisions of the North Sea neighboring states. One of the 14 project partners is the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. The project is coordinated by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. Compared with other transport carriers, ocean shipping already is more environmentally friendly. The environmental load by shipping could be further reduced by implementation of the BWMC.

5 Regional Development by Innovative Transport Projects INTER-Regio-Rail People on the Move Projects Supported by the Federal Programme Transnational Cooperation Innovative Measures for Urban and Regional Development ACT4PPP Public Private Partnerships: AGORA 2.0 Economic Development in the Baltic Sea Region: BEST AGERS Demographic Change: CREATIVE CITIES Strengthening and Professionalization of the Creative Idustry: MANDIE Managing District Centres: SECOND CHANCE Creative Reuse of Industrial Culture: Regional Development by Innovative Transport Projects 5 Transport systems conserving natural resources are decisive for Europe s worldwide competitiveness. As means of transportation in daily life the regional rail transport (RRT) plays an important role in this framework as it is environmentally friendly and at the same time ensures the mobility of people. Under the lead partnership of the BAGSPNV (Germany), the project INTER-Regio-Rail aims at improving the regional rail transport in Central Europe. With nine partners from Germany, Italy, Poland and Czech Republic, the project demonstrates on the basis of pilot projects how new passengers can be permanently won through improved organization and infrastructure as well as through specially tailored services. Transnational networking and a professional dialogue with transport companies, passenger associations and external experts are very important in this process. Using the experience gained from these regional projects, INTER-Regio-Rail will approach policy-makers at the regional, national and European level and argue in favour of improving the framework conditions governing the organisation and financing of the RRT. The partner activities focus on transboundary transport connections, modernized railway stations with improved possibilities to change trains, tariff cooperation arrangements and effective systems of information and services. To also meet the specific requirements of seniors and bike tourists, tailored solutions and offers in the field of RRT are needed, which is why a study trip through three countries took place in the framework of the project in May. The participants of the trip had the opportunity to get to know examples of good practice. INTER-REGIO-RAIL Regional Rail Transport: SCANDRIA Infrastructure and Economic Development: SONORA Infrastructure and Economic Development: TRANSITECTS Transalpine Freight Traffic: VIAREGIAPLUS West-East Connection: Energy Efficiency in Town Planning and Housing LONGLIFE New Buildings Energy Efficiency: URB.ENERGY Integrated Urban Development Concepts: Spatial Planning Strategies to Adapt to Climate Change BALLAST WATER OPPORTUNITY Managing Ballast Water: BALTSEAPLAN Spatial Development on the Sea: CLISP Climate-Proof Spatial Planning: LABEL Flood Risk in the Elbe River-Basin: