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Description
The aim of the project is:
- in terms of socio-economic development: improving the quality of life in the city by improving the city''s economic potential, the city''s social potential, the quality of the natural environment, the quality of urban spaces
- in the field of institutional development: improvement of the coherence of activities and increase of residents'' trust in public institutions, creation of modern standards for the provision of public services and improvement of the institutional capacity of the city administration.
The effect of the project implementation will be:
- in the field of socio-economic development: impulse, inter alia, to intensify the city''s development through the development of urban specializations; strengthening the integration of residents; increasing their environmental awareness; making the urban space more attractive, and at the same time increasing the number of initiatives for active leisure in the "new" urban space. The basic activities of the project in this regard are to initiate the process of economic, social and environmental changes in the city.
- in the field of institutional development: incl. an increase in solutions in the field of social communication, management and provision of public services; increasing improvements in the area of public administration and strengthening the competences of the city''s administrative staff.
Summary of project results
The main objective of the project is to improve the quality of life in the city by taking actions aimed at improving the economic and social potential of the city, the quality of the natural environment and urban spaces, as well as creating standards for the modern provision of public services and improving the institutional capacity of the city administration.
In the area of activities aimed at improving the economic potential, the project assumed the achievement of the following effects: further development of urban economic specializations and increase in economic activity and wealth of residents and entities operating in the city. Activities in this area involved defining the strategic direction of development, and then building an appropriate development environment – by preparing and equipping a group of people who can generate further change with appropriate competences.
The Startup Training Center was established, where an unusual element increasing the impact was used, i.e. making the training modules available as a publicly available online course. Making training available as an online course is a good solution in the event of high interest and lack of places at stationary workshops. In this way, the possibility of acquiring skills by more people also increases.
In addition, a presentation of the participants'' skills was held in the form of the so-called Demo Day, which allowed for the gathering of a group of experts and the exchange of industry knowledge.
The basis for building urban specializations is human capital. The fields of education of young people are important here. Indicating potential future fields of education will allow for a better, more conscious choice of the educational path. Therefore, another activity is to encourage young people to choose local universities and study in the city/region and to work on the competences of the future necessary to operate within urban specializations.
As part of the action, classes were launched at the Children''s and Youth Academy "Like at university", where a program was implemented based on the development of three basic competence areas among the project participants, indicated as necessary on the labor market, i.e. language, IT, technical and personal competences. It was also important to build the competences of the future in young people (e.g. in the area of STEAM), i.e. 4K skills highly valued by employers and lecturers: communication, creativity, critical thinking and cooperation.
The initiative included a total of: 3 editions, 300 participants, 300 hours of classes.
The selection of classes refers to municipal and regional specializations (medicine, IT) and thus shows that Zabrze is a place that can be seriously considered when choosing your life and professional path.
As part of the internship, a partnership was established with a local university (the Academy of Silesia in Katowice, but also operating in Zabrze) to encourage students to study in the city and to choose strategic directions for the development of the city
Children and young people attended classes directly at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Prof. Zbigniew Religa in Zabrze. Children and young people participated in classes conducted in academic auditoriums, studios and laboratories, learning about the conditions in which real students learn.
The answer to the defined problem of the low level of development of social skills was another group of activities. Residents often spent weekends (free time) in neighboring cities, which led to the disappearance of social ties and a loosening of the relationship with the city as a place of life. The remedial actions implemented in the project are generally planning to work with the local community in an inclusive and long-term way. For this purpose, the following tools were used:
- Academy of Vitality – family workshops, bicycle rallies and joint sports activities.
- Stay with us at the weekend – family field games, family workshops presenting the offer of municipal units entitled Mornings at the Theatre,
- educational and vocational day camps for children - the program included, among m.in, trips to attractive places, sports and physical activities, integration games and plays, walks, outdoor activities, as well as entrepreneurship lessons. The curricula included elements encouraging to learn about professions in the place where they are actually performed and in conditions similar to those performed on a daily basis, the children also learned about the work of officials and held a children''s session of the City Council.
- off-site training for members of the Youth Council and a series of workshops in the field of peer mediation – young councillors gained experience in building cooperation with other people, improved their communication skills in group relations, learned the basic principles of conflict resolution, expanded their interpersonal skills shaping the principles of cooperation in a group.
A total of over 1330 people benefited from various forms of support.
The benefits of this part of the project are manifold:
1. Residents can enjoy interesting and developing ways of spending their free time.
2. Residents are more willing to spend time in friendly and accessible spaces. Social bonds are strengthened.
3. The youngest get to know their city and at the same time build their decisions in connection with it, e.g. getting to know professions and places in the city where they can be performed strengthens ties with the city.
4. Training work with the Youth Council strengthens the civic attitudes and social activity of young people.
Activities carried out in the social dimension also included accessibility issues. They were carried out in a comprehensive way – the project created accessible infrastructure and carried out activities aimed at changing the public perception of the issue of taking into account the needs of disadvantaged groups. The following activities were performed:
Investments were made in the Metallurgical Park - the space received a new functional order, new paths were made, plantings and small architecture were adapted to new functions, and the historic Neptune Spring was restored. The entire space of the Park is accessible to people with
special needs, and accessibility solutions were consulted with experts from the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (one of the project partners).
The Registry Office was adapted by implementing a system of facilities for people with special needs, m.in. by constructing a vertical platform and a room marking system.
A municipal accessibility standard has been developed. As part of the cooperation with the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, a standard was developed that included inventory work, audits of architectural accessibility in the indicated facilities and the development of recommendations. Then the standard was subject to public consultations and adopted by the Ordinance of the Mayor of the City.
Awareness events were organized to eliminate barriers – 2 flagships.
First of all, the Conference entitled: "Accessibility of public institutions and sports facilities for people with disabilities": The speakers were specialists in the field of architectural, digital and communication accessibility, as well as people with disabilities, who talked about their life experiences.
Secondly, a dual football tournament for children with disabilities. Children with various degrees of disability from special schools in the Silesian Voivodeship took part in the tournament. During the games, there was also a match in which students from both primary and special primary schools took part.
Employees were trained. The aim was to increase the knowledge and awareness of public sector employees about disability and the functioning of people with disabilities in society, as well as the obligations of public institutions under the Act of 19 July 2019 on ensuring accessibility for people with special needs. The training covered 100 people.
Another group of activities concerned the quality of the natural environment and urban spaces.
The activities carried out in this area combined infrastructural and soft activities:
1. Construction of two brine graduation towers in the "design and build" formula.
2. Ecological events "introducing" new investments to the map of residents'' activities – open-air, bicycle rallies, exhibitions, advisory points, outdoor events. The essence of these events was to familiarize the residents with new spaces created as part of the Norwegian project.
3. Ecological workshops for children, youth and seniors – 35 thematic workshops for 53 different groups, for a total of 1211 people.
4. Workshops entitled "A city resilient to climate change" combined with a simulation of a City Council session for students.
The combination of investment and soft activities allows for synergy. Investments are more popular, residents better understand what environmental protection is. Strengthening awareness activities allows for a change in attitudes. At the same time, the knowledge and the degree of use of various tools popularizing ecological solutions (e.g. eco-advice, the use of renewable energy sources, etc.) increases.
Involving residents in the process of jointly building resilience to climate change allows for a better understanding of the problem.
Involving residents in thinking about the city in environmental categories results in greater acceptance for potential investments with a more difficult level of acceptance. Places that have just been created become familiar and more often used for residents.
As part of the project "City as a development space" in Zabrze, a number of activities were carried out, divided into four key areas: environmental, social, economic, institutional. The main result of the project is to increase the involvement of residents in the life of the city, both by spending time in the city in various forms, and by increasing the participation of residents in social participation. Thanks to the project, new green spaces were created, where residents can spend their free time, and which meet the needs of different groups of residents: seniors, adults and children. Among others, the Metallurgical Park was revitalized, which will gain a completely new face. The park was refreshed, gained a water playground, skate park, dog run and small architecture, where the whole family can spend time. In addition, salt graduation towers were built in two different districts of the city, which are currently very popular with both seniors and young people.
In the economic area, an internet platform called Startup Training Center was launched. As part of the Startup Training Center, an unusual element was used to increase the impact, i.e. making training modules available as a publicly available online course. Implementation of this task allows for building an appropriate development environment - by preparing and equipping a group of people with the appropriate competences who can generate further change. This is a good solution in the case of high interest and lack of places in stationary workshops. In this way, the possibility of acquiring skills by more people is also increased. In this area, classes were also launched at the Children''s and Youth Academy "As at the university", where a program was implemented based on developing three basic competence areas among the Participants of the project, indicated as necessary on the labor market, i.e. language, IT and technical, personal competences. It was also important to build future competences for young people (e.g. from the STEAM area), i.e. 4K skills highly valued by employers and lecturers: communication, creativity, critical thinking and cooperation. This activity encourages young people to choose local universities and study in the city/region and work on future competences necessary to operate within the framework of urban specializations. In the institutional area, the eBOK platform was expanded, which was intended to increase access to services provided electronically by the City Office in Zabrze. This concerned the area of local taxes and fees, which was important from the point of view of residents and entrepreneurs operating in the city. In addition, in the institutional area, city officials were trained in various areas, including in the area of customer service with special needs, and the range of social consultations organized in the city was expanded by launching a participation module in the mobile application "Zabrze in the heart of Silesia", available for several years. The platform strengthens the level of institutional development, improves the quality of service for residents, increases the digital and communication accessibility of offices. Thanks to this, residents have continuous access to the office''s services, and thanks to participation conducted in this way, the exchange of information with residents is improved
In the social area, among others, the City Accessibility Standard was introduced and various forms of work with the local community in an inclusive and long-term manner were proposed using the following tools:
- Vitality Academy - family workshops, bike rides and joint sports activities.
- Stay with us on the weekend - family field games, family workshops presenting the offer of municipal units called Mornings in the Theatre, - educational and vocational camps for children - the program included, among others, trips to attractive places, sports and physical activities, integration games and fun, walks, outdoor activities, as well as entrepreneurship training. During the camp, children, while learning about their chosen profession, earned money using the currency called "kotlok". For the earned "kotloks" they could buy selected goods in the shop or save this money and at the end of the session buy goods from the project shop. The program of classes included elements encouraging learning about professions in the place where they are actually performed and in conditions similar to their everyday performance, the children also learned about the work of officials and held a children''s session of the City Council. - field training for members of the Youth Council and a series of workshops on peer mediation – young councillors gained experience in building cooperation with others, improved their communication skills in group relations, learned the basic principles of conflict resolution, and expanded their interpersonal skills that shape the principles of cooperation in a group.
At the same time, tasks in the field of environmental protection were implemented by combining infrastructure activities with soft activities:
1. Construction of two salt graduation towers in the "design and build" formula.
2. Ecological events "introducing" new investments to the map of residents'' activity - open-air events, bike rides, exhibitions, advisory points, outdoor events. The essence of these events was to familiarize residents with new spaces created as part of the Norwegian project.
3. Ecological workshops for children, youth and seniors - 35 thematic workshops for 53 different groups, for a total of 1,211 people.
4. Workshops entitled "A city resistant to climate change" combined with a simulation of a City Council session for students.
Combining investment and soft activities allows for synergy - investments are more popular, residents better understand what environmental protection is. Strengthening awareness activities allows for a change in attitudes. At the same time, knowledge and the degree of use of various tools popularizing ecological solutions (e.g. eco-consulting, use of renewable energy sources, etc.) are increasing.
The final result of the project implementation is to contribute to reducing economic and social differences within the European Economic Area, as a result of improving the quality of life in Zabrze by taking actions aimed at increasing the economic and social potential of the city, the quality of the natural environment and urban spaces, as well as creating standards for modern provision of public services and improving the institutional capacity of the city administration.
Hard results were achieved through the following activities:
• Startup Training Center with an online course and the so-called Demo Day for prepared innovators/leaders, expanded IT platforms for contact with residents, the effect (consequence) of which is to be the development of urban economic specializations.
• Expansion of IT platforms for contact between local government and residents (with a module for payments to local government - local taxes and fees and a module for social consultations), which allows for continuous access to the office''s services. The effect is to increase the involvement of residents in the city''s affairs and easier fulfillment of obligations by those obliged to pay (residents - individuals and entrepreneurs).
• Investment in the Metallurgical Park, thanks to which the space received a new functional order, new paths were made, plantings and small architecture were adapted to new functions, a children''s zone was created, including a water playground and a traditional playground; a youth zone including a Skatepark, an active general zone including board game tables, barbecue areas and an outdoor gym, a quiet general zone including small architecture and the restored historical Neptune''s Spring and a zone for quadrupeds (dog run). The entire space of the Park is accessible to people with special needs, and solutions in the field of accessibility were consulted with experts from the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (one of the project Partners).
• Adaptation of the Civil Registry Office by implementing a system of facilities for people with special needs, including by creating a vertical platform and a room marking system. The result is that people with disabilities can use the services of the Civil Registry Office, including participating in ceremonies according to their own preferences.
• Development of the Municipal Accessibility Standard. In cooperation with the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, a standard was developed covering inventory work, architectural accessibility audits in indicated facilities and the development of recommendations. Then, the standard was subject to social consultations and adopted by Order. The aim of preparing the document was to set directions for further development of the City of Zabrze in terms of architectural, communication and information, as well as digital accessibility. The Municipal Accessibility Standard of the City of Zabrze specifies requirements and design guidelines for open spaces (external public spaces) and for closed spaces (public buildings), and an analysis of city websites and mobile applications was made in terms of digital accessibility and on this basis, good practices in this area were developed in terms of the needs of all user groups, including people with special needs.
• The construction of two salt graduation towers in the "design and build" formula combines health care, contact with nature and is a contribution to education on the importance of the natural environment. The wooden structure with blackthorn branches, along which the brine flows, is also a response to the needs of society, which is increasingly taking its health seriously. Iodine contained in the breeze promotes, among other things, the proper functioning of the thyroid gland. Inhalations used in healthy people increase the body''s immunity. The investment was accompanied by soft activities, which not only increased awareness among residents of the existence of new attractive spaces but also provided a place for educational activities.
Soft results were achieved through the following activities:
• Classes at the Children and Youth Academy "As at the University", where a program was implemented based on developing three basic areas of competence among the Participants of the project, indicated as necessary on the labor market, i.e. language competences, IT-technical competences, personal competences. It was also important to build competences of the future among young people (e.g. from the STEAM area), i.e. 4K skills highly valued by employers and lecturers: communication, creativity, critical thinking and cooperation. Blocks of classes: biology and chemistry classes, mathematics classes, Polish language classes, English language classes, artistic classes and robotics and IT classes. The selection of classes refers to urban and regional specializations (medicine, IT) and thus shows that Zabrze is a place that can be seriously considered when choosing your life and career path. • Offer of recreational and sports activities under the slogan "intergenerational is together" using the tools:
o Vitality Academy - activities for residents: family workshops, bike rides and joint sports activities.
o Stay with us on the weekend - family field games, family workshops presenting the offer of municipal units called Mornings in the Theatre.
o Educational and vocational camps for children, the program included trips to attractive places, sports and movement activities, integration games and fun, walks, outdoor activities, as well as entrepreneurship training. The activity programs included elements encouraging learning about professions in the place where they are actually performed and in conditions similar to their everyday performance, the children also learned about the work of officials and held a children''s session of the City Council.
o Field training for members of the Youth Council and a series of workshops on peer mediation – young councilors gained experience in building cooperation with others, improved their communication skills in group relations, learned the basic principles of resolving conflicts, and expanded their interpersonal skills that shape the principles of cooperation in a group.
The intended effect of these activities is an offer of interesting and developing ways of spending free time in friendly and accessible spaces, when participants get to know their city and at the same time build their decisions in connection with it.
• Activities aimed at eliminating barriers for disadvantaged groups, within which the following were organized: a conference entitled: "Accessibility of public institutions and sports facilities for people with disabilities, Dual football tournament for children with disabilities and training of employees. The aim was to increase knowledge and raise awareness of residents and public sector employees about disabilities and the functioning of people with disabilities in society.
• Pro-ecological activities such as ecological events "introducing" new investments to the map of residents'' activity - open-air events, bike rides, exhibitions, advisory points, outdoor events, ecological workshops for children, youth and seniors - 35 thematic workshops for 53 different groups, for a total of 1211 people, workshops entitled "A city resistant to climate change" combined with a simulation of a City Council session for students. The essence of these events was to familiarize residents with new spaces created as part of the Norwegian project, climate change and the importance of a pro-ecological attitude.