Duration of the project:

1.5.2016. – 30.6.2018.

Total value:

€ 484.294,00

EU co-financing:

€ 249.936,00

Beneficiary coordinator:

Energy Cities – a European association that brings     together local authorities in the framework of energy transition

Partners:

City of Brussels; Belgium, City of La Rochelle; France, City of Zadar; Croatia, City of Milton Keynes; UK, City of Turin; Italy, City of Ivanić-grad; Croatia, City of Rotterdam; Netherlands

Web page: LIVING STREETS LIFE

City Zadar – LIVING STREETS projects – web page

It is estimated that by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Road traffic is one of the key problems affecting the quality of the environment but also the quality of life in urban areas (eg overcrowding, poor air quality, noise, etc.) while undermining the sense of community within the neighborhood. Fast-growing cities are increasingly opting for a different approach, so in cooperation with citizens, they seek to provide access to the goods and services they need, without depending on road traffic. It is necessary to focus not only on the public interest but also on the private one. In 2013, the project was launched in Ghent, Belgium. It involved citizens, companies, administrative services and associations, and enabled further discussions on how to design streets. Moreover, it was pointed out that living streets, regardless of size, provided an opportunity to strengthen social cohesion. This project should be applied in other cities and streets as well.

Project goals:

Living Streets is a LIFE-funded project that helps and encourages citizens to temporarily free their streets from the crowds of cars and converts them to a crowded street by socializing with each other. One of the major strategic issues of this project is to organize the daily life of citizens, without the car to such a degree as we do today. By removing cars and finding other parking spaces, new spaces become available that can be turned into places for community, interaction and support such as playgrounds, picnic areas, pop-up bars, city gardens, but also enable the application of new sales methods. food products and electric car sharing. In real life, such projects in cities will turn streets into living laboratories to address a range of issues, such as sustainable transport, improved and sustainable supply of goods, job creation, local food production, urban agriculture and group funding opportunities.

The main goals of the project are:

• implement the Living Streets project in seven European cities;
• create project websites with a “meet a partner” database;
• influence the development of urban policy at the local level;
• encourage project implementation in other local governments and self-governments in the EU;
• make recommendations at national level to support Member States.

Expected results:

• implementation of the Living Streets project in seven European cities
• seven action plans (one in each local government and self-government);
• developed project website in each partner city;
• seven joint visual documents on the project (one per city);
• seven local governments and self-governments trained to use measures and resources to inform citizens;
• a report on policy recommendations at national and European level regarding the implementation of the EAP;
• seven local socio-economic surveys (one for each partner city) and one socio-economic survey; and
• at least 20 European municipalities/administrations interested in introducing and implementing the living streets project in their cities.

*Source: LIVING STREETS  – life database