The Development Organization "AMFIKTYONIES S.A." participated from March 6 to 7, 2024, in the 2nd Transnational Meeting of the partners of the Cities@Heart network, within the framework of the European Cooperation Program URBACT IV 2021-2027, in Granada, Spain.
The Development Organization was represented, at the meeting, by the Coordinator of the Organization's project team, Ms. Athanasia Koutsis and another member, Ms. Eleni Akrivou, as well as by the executive of the Municipality of Lamia, Ms. Afroditis Politopoulou, representative of the Local Action Team (ULG), established for the needs of the project.
Ángel Luis Benito Pérez set the scene with a dive into the history of the city and the main challenges being addressed in terms of climate change and gentrification. For example, to improve air quality in the city centre and its environs, the city has created Granada Respira, an urban regreening project to create a verdant ring around the city with the planting of 2 million trees in 2 years.
Daniel Galan of the Tourism Bureau presented the transformation of the city's tourism strategy after a post-Covid national plan by the Ministerio de Industria y Turismo to green the tourism industry. Faced with a problem of overtourism, Granada is working on efficiently diverting crowds to different areas of the city and employing digital innovations such as a 24/7 AI power kiosk to answer tourists' questions.
Representing the Métropole du Grand Paris, Alexandre FAURE, Development Council Secretary, presented various initiatives to address issues of climate change in the Paris area, notably an international conference on politics of density to encourage innovative models to share space and better use our resources.
In an interactive portion of the meeting, network members participated in workshops on climate change and data collection with Lead Expert Mar Santamaria Varas. One partner, the Kraków Metropolitan Area shared their example which is a climate strategy with “sensibility maps”. This document provides geographical data that is used to analyse risk of floods, landslides, heat waves, air pollution or other extreme climate conditions that could affect daily life in the city centre.
GABRIEL J. FERNÁNDEZ ADARVE, Albaicín Renovation Office Technical Director) presented the city’s solution to combat gentrification and keep residents in the city centre. The city created a programme to provide individual guidance and funding for nearly 600 households with the need renovate their properties.
In the same vein, Mª de la Barca Fernández-Reinoso Santamaría and Alfonso Bermejo Oroz of ABBA Architecture, Heritage building renovation specialists presented their project for the renovation and rehabilitation of the Casa Cuna orphanage, an initiative aiming to preserve historical buildings and provide new uses for these spaces in the city centre.
Javier Perez Saez and Elena Del Moral (OSCE) presented the Energy Community of the Alhambra Neighbourhood accompanied by the @OSCE. Energy communities allow groups of citizens to produce, share and consume their own renewable energy. Active in the protected heritage area of the Alhambra district, the Granada project is unique in all of Spain.