• Lead partner: Swiss Centre for Mountain regions (CH) Contact person: Peter Niederer, Tel.: +41 31 382 10 10, peter.niederer[at]sab.ch
• Financial Lead partner: Regione Lombardia - D.G. Industria, Artigianato, Edilizia e Cooperazione (IT) Contact person: Cristina Pellegrino, Tel.: +39 0 267654030, Cristina_Pellegrino[at]regione.lombardia.it
• Gal - Appennino Genovese (IT) Contact person: Angela Rollando, Tel.: +39 0 108683242, a.rollando[at]appenninogenovese.it
• Office of the Government of Carinthia, Competence Center 3 (Regional Development and Municipalities) (IT) Contact person: Kurt Rakobitsch, Tel.: +43 (0) 50 536 13155, kurt.rakobitsch[at]ktn.gv.at
• Office of Regional Government of Tyrol - Department Spatial Planning and Statistics (AT) Contact person: Manfred Riedl, Tel.: + 43 (0) 512/508-3650, manfred.riedl[at]tirol.gv.at
• Regional Council of Franche-Comté - Spatial planning department (F) Contact person: Laure Falempin, Tel.: +33 (0) 3 81 61 64 73, laure.falempin[at]cr-franche-comte.fr
• Rhône-Alpes Region - Tourism, natural parks and Mountain policy department (FR) Contact person: François Trusson, Tel.: +33 (0) 4 72 59 43 12, ftrusson[at]rhonealpes.fr,
• Regionalverband Südlicher Oberrhein (D) Contact person: Fabian Torns, Tel.: +49 (0) 761 70327-42, torns[at]region-suedlicher-oberrhein.de
• Association pour le développement du Nord Vaudois (ADNV) (CH) Contact person: Christine Leu, Tel.: +41 (0) 24 425 55 21, contact[at]adnv.ch

ACCESS was an INTERREG IV B project developed in the framework of the Alpine Space Programme (ASP). It involved eleven PPs from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The partners had come together to improve the accessibility to services of general interest in sparsely populated mountain regions.

The maintenance of a spatially and socially equal accessibility to services of general interest (SGI) is a core issue to the functionality of mountain areas. However, the ongoing territorial concentration of SGI leads to a vicious circle of further deterioration in the quality of provision which in turn causes a decreasing demand of the existing services. The withdrawal of SGI has many negative consequences for the affected regions of which a reduced functionality, competitiveness and a higher amount of motorised mobility are the most pertinent.

The ACCESS project therefore aims at improving the accessibility to SGI in sparsely populated, mountain areas. This will be done mainly by finding new forms of organisation of SGI, using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and fostering demand oriented, integrated mobility systems. To achieve these ambitious goals, ACCESS builds on a transnational approach and on participatory methodologies to assess the specific demands of stakeholders on different levels.

• Coordination of sector policies to prevent exploitation of natural resources and single-sector economies
• Sensitive Alpine territory requires appropriate and diversified measures (consensus-oriented multi-stakeholder approach)
• Rural-urban partnership requires vital networks and processes
• Cross-sectoral and integrated approaches are needed to slow down impacts in rural areas
• Rural areas need to cooperate and complement each other
• Ageing population requires adaptation and offers opportunities for Alpine areas

• accessibility
• public services
• urban-rural partnership
• governance

• unspecific
• Balanced accessibility
• peri-alpine relationship
• Developing access to information and knowledge

Results of a project can be differentiated in outputs, outcomes and impacts of an intervention. Source:OECD Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results Based Management.

Results which are directly or indirectly suitable or applicable for practitioners / politicians and civil servants / administration:
Two results are especially of interest for practitioners / politicians and civil servants / administration

• The 24 implemented pilot projects are especially suitable/applicable for practitioners / politicians and civil servants / administration since they demonstrate a practical solution to a problem in accessibility of SGI in a representative test area in the alpine space. The methodology implemented and the lessons learnt as well as political framework conditions are documented in the final synthesis http://www.alpine-space.eu/uploads/tx_txrunningprojects/Final_report_and_recommendations_ACCESS.pdf
  
• The 8 strategies on how to improve accessibility to SGI are built on the above mentioned pilot projects and include also experiences from other projects in the alpine space. The strategies can directly applicated in all regions of the alpine space.

Strategy 1: Aggregating offer Strategy 2: Alternative delivery mechanisms Strategy 3: Different types of providers Strategy 4: Improve marketing and demand Strategy 5: Improving reachability and strengthen communication networks Strategy 6: Strengthen rural-urban linkages Strategy 7: Improve Governance, Co-design and Codelivery Strategy 8: Reinforce SGI related policies

Which of the project results are usable for which aspect of SSD and which are the most relevant for practitioners / politicians and civil servants / administration?

• The 8 elaborated strategies address all aspects of sustainable spatial development: an equal accessibility to services of general interest for the entire population of a country (social), a cost efficient installation and maintenance (economic) as well as a minimal impact on the environment (ecological). The most relevant results for practitioners / and civil servants / administration are the strategies 1: Agregating the offer, 2. Alternative delivery mechaniscms, 3. Different types of providers, 4: Improve marketing and demand, 5: Improving reachability and strengthen communication networks, 6 strengthen rural urban linkages, 7: Improve Governance, Co-design and Codelivery. The most relevant strategy for politicians are to reinforce SGI related policies. Every strategy is underpinned with a pilot project. This approach increases the comprehensibility of the strategies and make them very useful for practitioners / politicians and civil servants / administration
  

Are there results which need further steps to be useful for practitioners / politicians and civil servants / administration?

• The Regional Intermediate Reports and the Transnational Intermediate Report display the status of SGI in the test areas nicely. However the underlying data is not accessible for the wider public due to copyright restrictions. The alpine-wide accessibility of data is a major problem for all projects.
  

Which kinds of stakeholders have been involved, how have their competences been used in the project and are there options for a better implementation?
Mainly local and regional policy makers (mayors of municipalities), administrations and public service providers were involved. In context with participation also the public had the opportunity to contribute.
Are the results (tool, method, indicator, recommendation) directly or indirectly addressing the strategic objectives for the Alpine Space?
The SWOT-tool, the pilot actions and especially the roadmaps contribute to the strategic objective “Balance and equity in access to services of general interest across the Alps”. The systematic SWOT analysis is suitable to detect the demographic challenges of the regions and can raise awareness for them.
What could be long-term outcomes of this project? If none, why low impact? Why high impact? What is needed to achieve outcomes in the long-run?
Some pilot regions started projects in the frame of Demochange, which are continued after the project ended. E.g. the pilot region Nidwalden started 4 activities which are pursued (Revitalize old knowledge; Future Living Facilities; On the spoor of culture and nature; Apprenticeship in trade and crafts) (Source: http://othmar-filliger.ch/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/IGWestStans_20131218_2.pdf)“ Further long-term outcome could be higher awareness for the issues of demographic change and their implications in the pilot regions.

Unlike project outputs, outcomes and results cannot be described in a standardised way. Therefore, they are listed as free text:
Achievements that could be further implemented
The SWOTTOOL can be implemented in all Alpine regions to identify the challenges connected to demographic change. A translation of the pilot activities and the possibility to contact a person in case more information is needed would ease the implementation of pilot activities in other regions as well as free access to all documents named in the pilot activities database.
Remaining gaps
Besides the “Short regional report book with summary” for each of the ten pilot regions only for the three pilot regions in Austria and Germany more detailed versions of the analysis are available. The short regional reports are an output of the WP4, which was dedicated only to the analysis of demographic change. The further work in the pilot regions is not documented in form of reports, but only in the pilot action database. These descriptions are quite short and documents, which are connected to a pilot activity are just named, but not available (e.g.: pilot activity “More Mobility, local supply and social integration for elderly people”: a questionnaire is named, but not available: Ankündigung DT Seniorenerhebung Fragebogen.dox, Annuncio IT Seniorenerhebung Fragebogen.dox, Seniorenerhebung Fragebogen Version 9 DE.dox, Seniorenerhebung Fragebogen Version 9 IT.dox)
Emerging contradictions
none

• Internal and external costs of living and commuting
• Sustainable settlement development
• Regional analyses
• Toolbox for analysing mobility, settlement patterns and service provision
• Decline of services in remote areas
• Pilot action database