1. Newsletter 5
Fall 2011
Inter-municipal coopera•on for strategic steering of
DATE! Commerci zone Zenonbon development in theMW2011
SME-oriented loca• erg, orf rol
Commercial zon Zenonberg, Dorf Tirol MW20
Commercial zone Zenonberg, Dorf Tirol © MW2011
mmercial one nonber Dor Tiro Alps 2011
SAV E THE 012
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8-9 M al Conferen
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NIS Fi
COMU
Foto: Heinz Widmann
Fi•h Transna•onal 1
Project-Mee•ng in As•, Italy
CONTENTS
Project Mee•ng Alpsee-Grünten region: con•nuing the process
O
n the 27th and 28th of July, Final Conference 2
the Local Development Agen- Alpine Space Mid-Term Conference
cy Langhe Monferrato Roero Knowledge Management 3
(LAMORO) hosted in As• (Italy) the 5th Excursus: Inter-municipal coopera•on in Bangladesh
Transna•onal Project Mee•ng. At the
Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Hand-
cra$ and Agriculture, project partners ect implementa•on; the second half
were invited to listen to the progresses, was dedicated to evalua•ng single
first results and next steps of LAMORO’s aspects of inter- municipal commer-
pilot project, as well as to exchange ex- cial loca•on development. The group
periences about their own pilot ac•ons. inte nsively discussed the structure
The As• University of Economy pre- of the Guidelines on Inter-Municipal
sented the analysis done in the indus- Commercial Loca•on Development
trial areas of Nizza Monferrato, Canelli, (CLD), trying to redefine and distrib- Workshop session ©SL2011
and Calamandrana (municipali•es in ute the wri"en contribu•ons among nal Publica•on to be published in the
As• Province). A$erwards, experts from partners. first half of 2012.
Moncalieri municipality (Turin Province)
On the second day, partners dis-
provided a presenta•on on their ter-
cussed project ac•vi•es concerning
ritorial experience and their strategy in
the project evalua•on and adapta-
developing a polycentric se"lement in
•on method, the main ac•ons and
Vadò industrial area through the cre-
deliverables, and financial issues
a•on of a consor•um of enterprises.
with regard to the remaining months
Project partners at presenta•on session of the project. Next ac•ons will be
©SL2011 dedicated above all to finalize the
COMUNIS publica•ons with a view to
The project team then focused on the the final conference that will be held
implementa•on of the dissemina•on in Bolzano/Bozen, and to begin the
and knowledge management system, project evalua•on, ensuring the capi-
assessing the work accomplished so taliza•on and the transferability of
far and the planned strategies to en- results through the intensifica•on of
Conference Hall at the As• Chamber of sure project sustainability. The first the use of the COMUNIS knowledge
Commerce ©SL2011 work day ended with the presenta- management pla#orm (see ar•cle
Both days offered the occasion to sum •on of project promo•on material, a “Knowledge Management” by Fran-
up project outputs and ac•vi•es and to discussion about the final conference çois Parvex).
carefully plan the next steps un•l the and an exchange of view about the
project’s final conference in March 2012. contents and technical aspects of two Silvia Lodato
The first half of day one was dedicated publica•ons: the Project Synthesis Società Consor•le Langhe
to presen•ng the status of pilot proj- Booklet and the Popular Scien•fic Fi- Monferrato Roero (LAMORO)
Alpine Space Programme - European Territorial Coopera•on 2007-2013 1

2. www.comunis.eu
The Alpsee-Grünten region set to con•nue the CLD COMUNIS
project despite Immenstadt’s abandonment Final Conference
The town council of Immenstadt a targeted distribu•on of tasks at 8-9 March 2012
voted against the town’s further regional level, thus saving on •me,
commitment to a joint project of costs and waste of territorial resources. How can the inter-municipal
commercial loca•on development coopera•on for Commercial
The four mayors of the German towns
(CLD) within the COMUNIS project. Loca•on Development (CLD)
of Blaichach, Burgberg, Re•enberg and
Nevertheless, the other municipali•es be fostered? How can munici-
Sonthofen acknowledge Immenstadt’s
intend to con•nue this CLD project pali•es analyze their strengths,
right to make its own decisions,
in the Alpsee-Grünten region. weaknesses, opportuni•es
however, they intend to con•nue the
Following a joint informa•on mee•ng project. The mayors s•ll believe that and threats with regard to in-
addressed to the local town councils ter-municipal CLD? How can
and dedicated to illustrate the proposed municipali•es maximize their
establishment of an inter-municipal strong points and minimize
associa•on, the town councils agreed to their weak spots and realize
dra• a regula•on as the next step forward a more sustainable land use
towards a joint commercial loca•on for commercial development?
development project in the Alpsee- Which type of inter-municipal
Grünten region. The town of Immenstadt, Workshop in Alpsee-Grünten © KS2011 CLD approach is appropriate to
however, voted against the proposal achieve these goals?
with 14 votes in favour and eight against. the joint development of commercial The COMUNIS project partners
areas is the right answer to the current have elaborated a methodolo-
challenges. In the future, inter-municipal gy for analyzing inter-municipal
commercial loca•on development loca•ons and organiza•onal
shall be based on quality, rather than structures, as well as intra-ter-
quan•ty; only shared and agreed ac•on ritorial framework condi•ons
can sustainably maintain jobs in the area. for joint commercial loca•on
Stakeholders in this process also share development. They have been
the opinion that these much desired developing guidelines for de-
forms of CLD coopera•on need to be vising and applying inter-mu-
Mayors in Alpsee-Grünten region © KS2011 extended to the whole Southern part of nicipal CLD strategies, adapted
Oberallgäu. For this reason, preliminary to the challenges, condi•ons,
Immenstadt’s town council jus•fied its and poten•als of mountain re-
decision with the need to exploit the talks with the mayors of these
municipali•es are already under way un•l gions.
poten•al of the areas involved through
the beginning of autumn. By the end of The achieved results of the
knowledge transfer, and expressed
the year, the crucial decision on drawing project will be presented and
mistrust at the idea of a joint regula•on.
up a regula•on will have been taken. disseminated at its Final Con-
That is only partly understandable, as
ference, held on March 8-9,
the joint management of a commercial Sandra Feuerstein 2012, at the European Acad-
development area already involves City of Sonthofen emy of Bolzano (Italy).
COMUNIS at the Alpine Space Programme Mid-Term Conference
On June 16-17, the Alpine Space Pro- ond day was dedicated to three work- WS 3: Governance towards a macro
gramme (ASP) mid-term conference shops (WS) open to all par•cipants: regional strategy: How to start a part-
took place at the World Trade Center in WS 1: Themes and priori•es for the nership approach bringing together all
Grenoble, France. The COMUNIS proj- next genera•on of projects: Iden•fy types of actors, states and regions, and
ect was represented at this forum by European and alpine challenges and priori•ze specific issues from the field?
the French partner Chamber of Com- turn them into parameters for ac•ons. The COMUNIS project is featured in the
merce and Industry of Lyon – Déléga- The dis•nc•on is made between deliv- soon to be published Alpine Space Pro-
•on de Tarare. More than 250 partners erables and results/outcomes. gramme event brochure. For further
exchanged experiences about the 25 informa•on see the programme web-
WS 2: Management for suppor•ve
running projects. site: h•p://www.alpine-space.eu
delivery condi•ons: Key points were
Day one focused on assessment/out- raised such as the harmoniza•on and
comes and perspec•ves of the pro- simplifica•on of procedures within the Florine Goncet
gramme and issues related to European Alpine Space Programme and greater Chamber of Commerce
policies in the Alpine region. The sec- synergy between projects. and Industry of Lyon
Alpine Space Programme - European Territorial Coopera•on 2007-2013 2

3. www.comunis.eu
Knowledge management
COMUNIS implements a sustainable developed, implemen•ng several in- Web 2.0 sites are o#en visited and will
system to manage knowledge devel- struments, as shown in the enclosed therefore help a$ract a number of visi-
oped within the project. in a first step, diagram. This system includes instru- tors to both the project and the Alpine
an inventory of available instruments ments implemented within the Alpine Space Programme websites.
was drawn up. These have been clas- Space programme, the knowledge The system will lead COMUNIS to set
sified according to their specific con- management pla"orm of the Swiss up a dynamic process con•nuing well
tribu•on to the spreading of knowl- regional policy regiosuisse, as well as beyond the project dura•on. Each
edge. A system has been subsequently three worldwide Web 2.0 sites. These partner, therefore, needs to develop
its own network of rela•ons with ex-
www.comunis.eu
perts in the relevant countries. This
network, bringing together represen-
www.alpine-space.eu ta•ves from the public sector, asso-
Comunis Comunis Running projects
cia•ons, consultancy firms, as well as
Project sheet on
on Wikipedia training and research ins•tutes shall
regiosuisse Alpine Space not only support the dissemina•on of
on Linkedin
the project results, but also provide
further value to them. For this rea-
www.regiosuisse.ch son, special a$en•on shall be paid to
regiosuisse
documents
the network ac•vity coordinated by
base knowledge managers and concerning
Comunis inter-municipal coopera•on and Com-
on
Slideshare mercial Loca•on Development.
François Parvex
Regiosuisse on Linkedin Comunis on Linkedin
Swiss Associa•on for Services to
COMUNIS Sustainable Knowledge Management © FP 2011 Regions and Communes
Inter-municipal coopera!on towards economic development in Bangladesh
Inter-municipal coopera•on is an ar- an intervening or direct policy towards However, a local territory can prog-
rangement for coping with different is- economic development issues except ress be$er when its government bod-
sues that concern more than one mu- for a very basic provision of support. ies and other local public and private
nicipality. Many developed countries As a result, they try to keep in contact organiza•ons work well together. In
like Germany, Austria or Italy engage with other public or private organiza- Bangladesh, they also maintain coop-
in this approach having realized its •ons which are involved in economic era•on at different levels in various
benefits. This is not the case in every related ac•vi•es. sectors. But it would be more effec•ve
part of the world. For example in Ban- For instance, small- and micro-entre- if they con•nued this process through
gladesh, a developing country in South preneurship is a frequently used busi- a defined policy or regula•on includ-
Asia. Here, local urban government ness form, e.g.in the sectors of poultry, ing rules for accountability. In addi-
bodies (Pourashavas) and local rural fishery, handicra#s, etc. A#er having •on, more autonomous power, ac•ve
development bodies (union Parishad) fulfilled required training, local entre- involvement of local stakeholders,
are entrusted with a large number of preneurs receive a certain amount of opera•ve collabora•on with differ-
func•ons and responsibili•es. Munici- condi•onal grants provided by diverse ent ins•tu•ons at the inter-municipal
pali•es are involved in different inter- government or non-government orga- level would help to take ini•a•ve to-
municipal ac•vi•es aimed at commu- niza•ons. O#en, municipal responsible wards coopera•ve economic devel-
nity welfare, such as maintenance of oversee such types of projects and opment ac•ons taking into account
roads, waste disposal, awareness rais- collaborate with the afore-men•oned regional resources and poten•als.
ing for be$er primary health care, etc. organiza•ons as part of municipal de- Farha Zakaria
However, municipali•es do not have velopment ac•vi•es. Eurac-Research (Intern)
COMUNIS aims at developing coopera•ve strategies for inter-municipal Commercial Loca!on
Development (CLD). By fostering intra-territorial coopera!on, COMUNIS wants to overcome
individualis•c a$empts of problem solu•on on the level of single municipali•es. COMUNIS
will provide broadly adaptable guidelines to apply such strategies and offer prac•cal instru-
ments for assessing local and regional demand for the steering of CLD. The project will result
in a transna•onal knowledge management and establish sustainable structures for managing
CLD in the COMUNIS pilot areas. The COMUNIS project is part of the European Territorial Co-
opera•on and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the scope of
the Alpine Space Programme. It runs from July 2009 to June 2012.
Alpine Space Programme - European Territorial Coopera•on 2007-2013 3