Newsletter#1_en

Newsletter # 1 MUSTER take-off
MUSTER (Multi-level Governance for an Integrated, Sustainable, Regional Development) is a
project in the European Commission’s program Europe for Citizens, in the action Networks of
Towns, focusing on Democratic engagement and civic participation. From September 2015 to
August 2017, five cities, Città di Castello (I), Joué lès Tours (F), Lörrach (D), Sighisoara (RO),
Smolyan (BG) and the Practical Utopias Agency (I) will work together to elaborate common areas
of interest and constructing a platform for long-term collaboration between these five local
governments. One important frame of reference is the European Commission’s Urban Agenda of
the 2014-2020 period.
The meetings will provide the partners with the knowledge of the state of arts in the cities
involved in the project, in particular innovative forms of citizens’ participation, selecting actions to
work on together and constructing so step-by-step a lasting network. The basis are some preexisting collaborations, the similarity in problems to be tackled by the cities and a strong
European commitment of all partners.
1st Meeting in Città di Castello, Italy
The first meeting of MUSTER took place on
October 16, 17 and 18, 2015 in Città di
Castello. The participating delegations consisted of:
Deputy Mayor for economic development
Enrico Carloni, head of office Anna
Cagnoni, officer Gianni Chiasserini for Città
di Castello, Monique Chevalier, deputy
mayor for sustainable development, Sandrine
Fouquet, deputy mayor for culture and
international relations, Alix Adam, sustainable
development officer for Joué lès Tours,
deputy mayors for environment and climate
Michael Wilke, head of office Britta StaubAbt for Lörrach, Joan Fedor Pascu, heritage
officer for Sighisoara, Eftima Petkova and
Siyka Tabakova, director and expert of
economic development for Smolyan and
Karl-Ludwig Schibel, coordinator, Maria
Guerrieri, head of office and Giulia Giogli,
project officer of Practical Utopias Agency. Highlights
The first highlight of the meeting was a
lectio magistralis on the morning of Friday,
October 16, held by Alberto Grohmann,
Professor of Economic History at the
University of Perugia. Alberto Grohmann
spoke of the central role of cities from the
middle ages to this very day for the
development of Europe and vice versa, the
role of Europe as the framework of urban
development. “Cities are the place of the European spirit”,
Conclusions prof. Grohmann argued, historically they
The concluding session in the morning of
thrived in close contact and exchange among
Saturday saw a first evaluation by the
each other. These exchanges today continue
delegations what fields of activity could
to be of great importance in particular for
become part of the common platform of the
small and medium sized urban centres to
five cities. On top of the list without doubt the
promote and guarantee social and economic
subject of participation. The delegations
innovation and good services to the citizens. agreed that this is an issue of common
The afternoon session brought together
interest and Lörrach as the next meeting town
stakeholders from Città di Castello with the
is a fortunate coincidence because the city
delegations for a discussion in the world café
will start the elaboration of a common vision
format around two thematic round tables: of the town in a wide participatory process in
w Culture and Tourism (Sighisoara) and
January 2016. Integrated planning and participation
This, however, does not preclude to keep
(Smolyan and Città di Castello)
open the discussion on other fields of
w Agenda 21 (Joué lès Tours) and Energy
common interest (culture, tourism, economic
and Climate Policies (Lörrach). development, energy, mobility) that could
The round tables experienced a very active
become elements of a platform of
participation and met a keen interest from the
cooperation. stakeholders of Città di Castello. The morning session on Saturday, October 17
saw three classes of high school students
interrogating the delegations on two
subjects, the monetary union and the future
of the common currency, the euro and the
policies of immigrations and how the flow of
refugees affects the participating cities. An animated debate finished at noon,
because the students had to re-enter classes
and the MUSTER partner had to close the
first meeting.
2 nd meeting of MUSTER in Lörrach, Germany
The second meeting of the MUSTER partners will take place from February 18-20 in Lörrach,
Germany. The town of Lörrach, situated in the tri-border region of Germany, France and
Switzerland promotes since many years an advanced energy and climate policy and is about to
start a new big participatory process, “Design Lörrach. Together”, after the first one in 1995. The
experiences of Lörrach will serve as examples to discuss “Advanced Solutions of Local
Sustainable Development”, as the title of the meeting reads. Applicant:
Municipality of Città di Castello (Italy)
Partners:
Municipalities of Joué Lès Tours (France),
Lörrach
(Germany), Sighisoara (Romania), Smolyan
(Bulgaria)
and Practical Utopias Agency (Italy)
Contact:
Practical Utopias Agency
segreteria@utopieconcrete.it
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies
with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of
the European Communities. The European Commission is not
responsible for any use that may be made of the information
contained herein.