Successful ASTUS Mid-term Conference and School in Werfenweng.
Within the framework of the EU funded project ASTUS (Alpine Smart Transport and Urbanism Strategies), the Mid-term Conference and the second ASTUS School took place in Werfenweng on 26/27 June. Some 60 international experts and stakeholders from transport, spatial planning, administration and politics as well as representatives of the Alpine Convention met to discuss sustainable and innovative strategies for mobility and settlement development in the Alpine Space. Against the background of developing and promoting low-CO2 solutions, the event stimulated discussion and the exchange of experiences, challenges and opportunities. Studio iSPACE of the Research Studios Austria Forschungsgesellschaft mbH develops a typology of the different spatial types in the Alpine Space as well as innovative GIS-based tools for a better assessment of the impacts of concrete mobility and spatial planning measures.
Currently, the project is developing strategies in 17 pilot regions in five countries of the Alpine Space with local and regional actors to promote CO2-saving everyday mobility and resource-saving settlement development. The experience gained in the spatially very different regions of the Alpine Space will then be evaluated in order to derive recommendations and potential strategies and measures for characteristic spatial types of the Alpine region. In the Pongau region, the project partners Studio iSPACE of the RSA FG mbH and the SIR (Salzburg Institute for Spatial Planning) together with the Pongau Regional Association and the Salzburg Transport Association are developing strategies and local action plans, particularly in the municipality of Werfen to strengthen the town centre and in the municipalities of Schwarzach and St. Veit to evaluate a new bus service. For this purpose, commuter flows are evaluated in order to adjust the bus frequency accordingly. Potential new settlement areas due to improved public transport services are also being examined.
The ASTUS Mid-term Conference and ASTUS School were organised to network and exchange information between experts and decision makers. After a welcoming address by Walter Riedler (SIR) and Mayor Peter Brandauer (Werfenweng), Bernd Gassler (Regional Association Graz) opened the ASTUS Mid-term Conference with his key note “Managing mobility – thinking environment”. Afterwards, the ASTUS project and first project results were presented, especially pilot activities from Germany (Münchner Verkehrsverbund) and France (CEREMA). Thomas Prinz from Studio iSPACE of RSA FG mbH presented the project activities from the Pongau region. The mid-term conference ended with an excursion of Peter Braundauer to Werfenweng on sustainable mobility and housing forms.
The ASTUS School held workshops on various topics such as Smart Densification, modelling tools in spatial and transport planning, transport solutions in sparsely populated regions and regional ticketing. Short keynote speeches by the project partners stimulated discussion, exchange of experiences and the development of new approaches. Studio iSPACE of RSA FG mbH designed a workshop together with TU Munich on GIS-based tools in spatial and transport planning. Especially the different perspectives and experiences of the participants contributed to the success of the workshops. Mayor Hannes Weitgasser and Stephan Maurer, manager of the Pongau regional association, presented local and regional projects and approaches to promote sustainable settlement and transport development during an excursion to Werfen.
In the coming six months, the local action plans in the pilot regions will be elaborated in Werfenweng in the framework of the ASTUS project together with the respective regional and local actors, taking into account the results and the exchange of experiences.
Further information and current project results can be found HERE.