Three new UBC SCC proposals were granted funding last autumn: Baltic Urban Lab and iWater from the Central Baltic Programme and IWAMA from the Baltic Sea Region Programme. The last months have been busy in our office in getting started with these exciting projects.
Baltic Urban Lab - Integrated Planning and Partnership model for Brownfield regeneration was kicked off in Turku, Finland, 19-21st of January 2016. The Conference entitled “Building Partnerships for Brownfield Regeneration” gathered decision-makers, planners and experts from the four Central Baltic countries to discuss integrated management and co-creative urban planning for brownfield regeneration. Baltic Urban Lab has for its goal to improve urban planning by developing and testing new integrated models for brownfield regeneration. The partner cities with pilot sites are Riga (LV), Tallinn (EE), Norrköping (SE) and Turku (FI). The project is coordinated by Union of the Baltic Cities Sustainable Cities Commission, and supported by action leaders Nordregio and Brahea Centre of the University of Turku.
iWater (Integrated Storm Water Management) began implementation in December 2015 and the Kick-off took place in Helsinki 2-4th of March. iWater aims to improve urban planning by developing integrated and multifunctional storm water management. The project will find and develop common management methods and solutions for Integrated Storm Water Management (ISWM) for seven Central Baltic cities: Riga and Jelgava (LV), Söderhamn and Gävle (SE), Helsinki and Turku (FI) and Tartu (EE). The project is led by the City of Riga. Union of the Baltic Cities Sustainable Cities Commission is responsible for capacity building and piloting multifunctional storm water solutions, as well as the project’s communication.
IWAMA (Interactive Water Management) started in March 2016 and continues until 2018. The preparations for the Kick off are on the way. IWAMA improves the resource efficiency in wastewater management in the Baltic Sea Region by capacity development of wastewater treatment (WWT) operators and implementation of pilot investments which will result in reduced nutrient inflows to the Baltic Sea. Actions will focus on three main areas in the municipal WWT sector: capacity development, sludge management, and energy management. IWAMA is led by Union of the Baltic Cities Sustainable Cities Commission and has 17 partners from Estonia, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
For further information, please contact head of secretariat Björn Grönholm and project coordinators Olena Zinchuk and Janne Rinne!
