Let’s meet the first IN-PLAN Multipliers

This autumn, 14 individuals from 8 organisations connected to the online Train the Trainer capacity-building programme organised by the IN-PLAN project. By attending and completing the programme, colleagues from City of Ilion, Athens Anaplassis S.A., Centre for renewable energy sources and savings (CRES), Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment Western Macedonia (CluBE), Sustainable City, Dublin Energy Agency (Codema), Energy Agency of Portugal (ADENE), and Cyprus Energy Agency (CEA) are now official IN-PLAN Multipliers.

Thanks to the training, they are now equipped to help their local and regional governments in introducing and implementing their climate and energy plans into spatial planning. Called the IN-PLAN Practice, this approach aims to rationalise the plans to improve, notably, their effectiveness and their cost-efficiency.

What did they learn?

On the 1^st day, the participants hear presentations dedicated to what Spatial Planning and Climate Action entail. The introduction included different types of current planning models, the purpose of sustainable planning and how to broaden the current planning processes, the integrated Spatial Planning principle, and the types of partnerships required for this process. They could hear the case studies of Croatia and the city of Vienna as best practices. The participants when then spread into groups based on their countries to select a city to study and prepare the activities for day 2. The cities chosen were Nicosia (CY), Athens (GR), Naas (IE), and Lisbon (PT).

On the 2^nd day, the groups could spend time creating their base for integration with expert guidance from the North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA), the Energikontor Väst (EKV), Area Science Park, and the Technical University of the Shannon (TUS). Based on the city selected during day 1, the groups identified the main issues and what solutions were already existing (both in effect and on paper). They then focused on 1 issue to solve. This work was then presented on day 3.

On the 3^rd day, the participants all benefited from a last presentation about leadership, Communication and Presenting a Spatial Plan, before presenting their city case. During the session, they could discover the qualities of a good leader, understand their leadership style and how to relate it to their position and create good communication with different and opposing opinions.

What did they say about it?

The IN-PLAN Train the Trainer is open to improvement for fitting the needs of the energy, climate, and development agencies that wish to engage their municipalities and regions in applying integrated spatial planning. This 1st edition of the programme left interesting takeaways. For instance, the feedback from other spatial planners from other countries and what they could achieve was valuable.

The structure of the sessions was balanced by providing a theoretical framework and the opportunity to interact and discuss on the application of solutions in different city contexts. It was interesting to see how the integration of spatial planning and climate adaptation action varies in different contexts in the EU.

Marina Kyriakou, Architect & Urban planner, Cyprus Energy Agency

Express your interest

The municipalities and regions who are interested in discovering more about the IN-PLAN Practice are invited to read more about “The IN-PLAN Practice – the programme for authorities”; while the regional and local energy, climate, and development agencies are invited to check “Train the Trainers – the programme for agencies” on the capacity-building page: https://fedarene.org/project/in-plan/capacity-building-process/