Making cities fit for Green Deal Development

<< Background >>Facing global events and increasing urbanization, effective area development poses significant challenges: How to plan spaces that are socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable?In the course of longstanding professional activities, the consortium of „Making Cities Fit for Green Deal Development“ witnessed a lack of dedicated capacity building in practical sustainability competence in the urban development sector. Project lead and holistic architect Laura P. Spinadel for example observed the market throughout 35 years of multi-disciplinary engagement in the architecture, planning and development sector. Experiences especially in large or disadvantaged development areas, where overlooking aspects of sustainability in planning may result in high correctional costs and negative societal impacts, showed a need for better trained professionals. The identified main needs were education in-integrating Green Deal and associated regulations knowledge into daily work,-impact assessment across carious dimensions of sustainability and-managing multi-stakeholder settings through participation methods fostering consensus for the common good– along with elevating digital competences to enhance process efficiency. << Objectives >>The goal of the project was to provide urban and regional development staff with green, data, social and digital skills tailored to the evolving job market. A training should prepare them for innovative development projects, oriented in the Green Deal and other regulations crucial for sustainable urban design, such as SDGs, Leipzig Charter, EU Taxonomy and Sustainable Finance Regulation, while enhancing efficiency through competencies in managing impact data related to development sites and navigating multi-stakeholder decision-making scenarios.Concrete objectives were: O1: Develop an interactive Green Deal Maturity Check tool to assess the knowledge and mindset of the target group, serving as inspiration and support for workshop selection (A2). O2: Create a VET training program with three workshops for urban, rural, and regional development staff, including decision-makers, focusing on Green Deal principles (A3). O3: Evaluate the training program with European target group staff, considering local-specific aspects (A4). O4: Develop digitally accessible self-service material for self-study, including theory, practical examples, and multimedia learning (A5). O5: Promote Green Deal thinking and action within the sector (A1).<< Implementation >>-A Green Deal Maturity Check tool for assessing knowledge level and determining suitable training packages was developed (A2): Based on stakeholder interviews and an online survey providing insights into skills, needs and problems, a questionnaire was integrated into an interactive tool.-A VET training program consisting of 3 sustainable development competence centered workshops emerged (A3). For each a curriculum + theory and practice elements were developed, combining on- and offline formats (EN, DE, BG). Feedback from pilot runs was incorporated.-The training program underwent evaluation (A4) through 3 webinars involving development staff from a Bulgarian city and their cases as well as international stakeholders. Open practice groups were established around specific cases to expand the circle of test users.-Multimedia Material for self-study (EN, DE, BG) incl. theory and practice elements was delivered digitally accessible (A5). Feedback was collected online.-Green Deal thinking and action was promoted (A1) through networking based on our advisory board’s and first participant’s reach, among others in stakeholder meetings, workshops, via “voices” campaign and social media.<< Results >>The project resulted in the following elements:•A user-evaluated Green Deal Maturity Check tool to determine the educational status-quo of interested urban and regional development stakeholders•A curriculum and three-part Green Deal Maturity Training program touching upon 1) Green Deal & context, 2) Impact analysis, and 3) Participation methodsand steering development projects aligned with the societal goals Happiness, Safety, Innovation, Profitability, Circularity and global sustainability objectives, as outlined in the Green Deal and related regulations, strategies, and policies.The workshops are suitable for online, offline or hybrid application and are accompanied by digitally accessible self-service learning material.•Positioning within the target group community: We were able to directly involve 159 members of our target audience, ⁓ 50% from Bulgaria.Content can be viewed, downloaded or requested on the website https://greendealcheck.eu – including recordings of training webinars that have already been held.