The project WIKIAlps is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in the frame of the European Territorial Cooperation Programme Alpine Space.

Spatial development is a crucial issue in the Alpine Space where economy, society and environment have to coexist in a very confined space. Any small action taken in any of these fields can trigger big alterations in the others. In the same way, actions taken at local, regional or national level have consequences that affect other countries within the Alpine Space.

A balanced and shared territorial development in all the Alpine Space countries needs appropriate, current and manageable information for a sound decision-making. Nowadays the big and diverse amount of information available makes finding the correct and useful pieces very difficult and time consuming.

The WIKIAlps project provides operative ready-to-use tools to facilitate decision makers, civil servants, researchers and entrepreneurs on this task.

The project capitalises on Alpine Space program projects from two thematic fields “Inclusive growth” and “Resource efficiency and ecosystem management” highlighting: not recognized synergies, remaining gaps, achievements that could be further implemented, emerging contradictions, potential requirements and benefits for sustainable transnational spatial development.

To obtain a multidisciplinary overall picture of spatial development in the Alpine Space, WIKIAlps analyses it from three different angles. The tools available through the results of selected Alpine Space projects. The actors involved, through a stakeholders analysis. And the challenges and needs through relevant spatial development documents at the regional, national and international level, and conversations with stakeholders.

To obtain a multidisciplinary overall picture of spatial development in the Alpine Space, WIKIAlps analyses it from three different angles.

• The tools available through the results of selected Alpine Space projects.
• The actors involved, through a stakeholders analysis.
• And the challenges and needs through relevant spatial development documents at the regional, national and international level, and conversations with stakeholders.

The methodology used to undertake the different analysis has been developed by Ifuplan.

The project analysis within WIKIAlps is carried out in two steps: a broader screening of results as provided by final reports and project websites of all projects in the two thematic fields (Inclusive growth and Resource efficiency and ecosystem management) is followed by an in-depth analysis of selected projects.

The screening step includes the following elements that will define which projects are selected for in-depth analysis.

• Check whether sustainable issues are addressed (related to our hypotheses)
• Core topics addressed by the projects
• Keywords marking projects or parts of projects
• Availability of project results

These hypotheses have been developed to serve as a reference for the project analysis and do not claim to fully represent all driving forces of spatial development.

These Hypotheses have been used to identify and structure approaches of Sustainable Spatial Development(SSD) in the projects. As well the hypothesis will be used to analyse in the project analysis, how projects address the issues of SSD and how different topics of SSD are interrelated.

Hypotheses on sustainable spatial development have been synthesized on the basis of the following documents:

1. Strategy Development for the Alpine Space
2. Report on the State of the Alps “Sustainable Rural Development and Innovation” (Summary)
3. Alpine Convention Protocol on Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development
4. A resource-efficient Europe – Flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 strategy (COM (2011) 21)
5. Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020 (COM (2011) 244 final)
6. European Commission (2011): Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe. COM(2011) 571 final.

List of Hypothesis

In order to identify the transnational topics in Alpine area two documents deem to be of high priority.

• The Guiding Principles for Sustainable Spatial Development for the European Continent (CEMAT 2000)and
• the Alpine Convention Protocol on Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development.

Based on these documents and adjusted to mountain environments transnational topics are compiled in a grouping to CEMAT’s 10 main principles:

LIST OF TOPICS

LIST OF KEYWORDS

WIKIAlps uses the results from the following previous projects. On each individual project link in the following link there is part of the information gathered to undertake the project screening.

List of projects

The identification of transnational needs and challenges in regard to spatial development in the Alpine Space will be based on an analysis of relevant transnational and national documents and selected relevant research results as well.

Therefore the meaning of two terms have a crucial influence on results:

A)Sustainable Spatial Development (SSD)

Spatial development is a really multi-faceted task that integrates all spatially relevant aspects of sectoral policies and processes. Sustainable spatial development is the attempt to transfer the general sustainability objectives to spatial development, by this bridging the gap between the concept of sustainability and its spatial implications (cf. Marzelli, Lintzmeyer & Schwarz 2008). According to Keiner (2005) the following objectives in can be considered as such a concretisation of sustainable spatial development objectives:

• Densify settlements and economically use land resources
• Reduce traffic through co-ordination of urban development and public transport and promote environmentally compatible tourism
• Safeguard environmental quality and protect the population from immissions and risks from waste treatment, disposal and natural hazards
• Protect, promote and establish links between unintersected and semi-natural stretches of land
• Decentrally concentrate economic activities, central-place-functions and settlement nodes
• Secure access to land as a factor of production in centres of economic development
• Efficiently use energy
• Safeguard access to basic infrastructural needs of energy and communication
• Secure cultural landscapes through agriculture that operates nature-oriented
• Protect valuable architectural ensembles of villages and landscape

What are for the Alpine area most relevant transnational topics of SSD ?

B)Transnational approaches What does it mean to speak of a transnational dimension?

The INTERREG III programme (cf. Dosch et al. 2005, pg. 662) defined a clear cross-border/transnational character of activities – which is true also for the Alpine Space Programme.

A transnational dimension is given if operations and activities have been

1. jointly selected and
2. implemented in two or more member states or associates,
3. or implemented in only one state, but are significantly affecting other member states or associates.

While the first two criteria are relatively easy to verify, the latter may be difficult to assess and even more to quantify e.g. in the case of flood protection or transport infrastructure.

The relevance of transnational activities for spatial development is also expressed in the objectives of the Alpine Convention Protocol on Spatial Development Article 4. Consequently, transnational needs and requirements of spatial development would refer to

• spatially relevant issues that require activities of two or more member states
• or to needs or activities of one member state that have far-reaching consequences that also affect other member states or such consequences can be obviously concluded from the type of activity.

The documents analysed are listed in the article Document & Sources.

The outcomes of transnational and national doucments are presented along some central key questions of such a transnational sustainable spatial development:

• Which type and dimension of transnational operations are documents dealing with?
• What are added values of transnational spatial development expected in these documents ?
• What are obstacles for transnational spatial development observed for a transnational SSD ?
• What are proposals and good examples transnational spatial development referred to in the documents ?
• What are key stakeholders for transnational spatial development and the topics in the documents ?

Find answers on these key questions following further the links above!

These transnational needs and challenges may in a later stage also be used as a methodological tool in the project analysis to assess which of the needs and challenges are being addressed in Alpine Space projects and which of these have been unrepresented.