What  do we want from VISP?  Better cities -   more attractive, successful, prosperous, more sustainable,and more competitive.

 Partners of the Vitalizing City Centres through Integrated Spatial Planning project carry out between year 2004 and 2007 the following actions:

• Implement and assess urban pilot actions in integrated spatial planning.
• Develop and evaluate a common approach to integrated spatial planning for the revitalisation of city centres
• Construct and expand a trans-national network of small and medium size towns and cities to promote integrated spatial planning.

The exercises are carried out with the guidance of the expert team lead by Mr. Gordon Dabinett, the Sheffield University, Department of Town and Regional Planning, which ensures the quality certification of the activities and in key issues informs and consults key experts of ESPON and INTERREG.  

The VISP partnership plays also an active role in initiating clustering with other projects focussing on the priority of VISP, 'Developing more competitive cities and towns'. During workshops and seminars the representatives of these projects have met partners of e.g.  TOWN-NET, Waterfront Communities, URBAL, the Liveable City, the BID network. 

The joint activities have led to identifying of hundeds of best practices or good examples which - as trans-national learning is essential for the VISP partnership - are shared on the VISP network portal.

The examples focus on four key issues:

• Integrated spatial planning
• Lifelong learning
• Networking
• Citizens involvement.

As the VISP network will continue to co-operate even after the lifetime of the project you are welcome to join the network and present and share your own good examples of city centre revitalization.

The database of good examples is a powerful tool for:

• Analyzing current trends 
• Raising awareness of decision-makers and of the public of potential solutions to common social, economic and environmental problems
• Policy development based on what works
• Capacity- and competence building by means of new knowledge management tools and methods.
• Networking with organizations  and people involved in implementation
• Practical co-operation through the matching of supply with demand in specific expertise and experience.

The VISP-database will be complemented during the second half year of 2006 by a good example registration template, a search and partnermatching module.

Follow the VISP portal to submit your good examples and find new partners for co-operation in realizing your integrated spatial planing goals!

Eva Fabry, VISP Project Manager, e-mail