Elementary Schemes

The key for the successful implementation of the cohesive Strategic Plan are schemes perceived as sine qua non conditions. These are the constituents of the strategic planning process and they are indispensable for the MaNet Project because they include a wide range of measures and actions involving all stakeholders.

Research Agenda

Knowledge of the landscape is a primary step in the process of involving stakeholders whose activities influence the quality of the landscape directly. That is why a multidisciplinary survey on the landscape is a prerequisite for the implementation of the plans. Knowledge regarding the Mastorochoria must be produced according to European Landscape Convention guidelines, which include:

1. understanding the physical features of the territory in their present state and analyzing the results of the interrelation between natural and human activities;
2. studying the development of the territory, including an examination of the past, present and potential future impacts on the landscape caused by humans and/or nature;
3. a recognition of the values based on professional knowledge and ‘social perception of landscape’.

The process of knowledge production should be accompanied by creating a landscape database as a common reference framework. The in-depth survey as part of knowledge production is to be conducted in a set time frame according to the research field with the aim of getting efficient results within a strict schedule in order to analyse the characteristics of the landscape and to identify forces changing it. In the first phase the research results are to be used for developing a software platform with the essential data for the Mastorochoria Network. The research in the next phase will deliver more detailed data according to the needs of the ongoing or planned projects (COE 2008:40-46). The whole process of knowledge production has to be in accordance with the mapping of regional assets, taking into consideration the level of development of CCIs in the region (European Commission 2012:12). A close cooperation with the state as an official partner is a prerequisite for planning and implementing projects in accordancewith state and European development programmes and agendas.

 

General Action Plan

A comprehensive Action Plan will be developed taking into consideration the results of the survey, the needs of the local communities and other stakeholders, and the requirements of the territory according to the vision of the project. This Plan provides with actions developed according to the strategic axes. The actions are linked and must not be perceived as a list of actions that can be implemented separately.

 

Networking

Creating networks built on the uniqueness of the territory, local knowledge, heritage and traditions, is an added value of MaNet. It is also a resource for innovation and services development that allows economic, cultural and social aspects of the project to converge, interlock and interlink. Transborder cooperation is understood to mean not only cooperation between neighbouring countries, but also regions and communities within Greece with different or common features. According to the Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020, regional interdependencies are becoming more important. As a result, networking, cooperation at different levels is increasingly needed in order to cope with and to recover from different ‘external shocks’. Furthermore, networking impedes underutilization of human, cultural, economic and ecological resources of the border regions of the network and their peripheral position (COE 2014; Eurada 2014b; COPTA 2011:4; COE 2008:74).

 

Raising Awareness in Local Communities

Awareness of involved actors regarding landscape values and of the connection between the landscape and the locals is one of the key factors of successful implementation. Awareness raising has to be based on personal contacts and the experience from the exchange between the locals, who will be affected by the plans and actions and the experts who develop those plans and actions. Since encouraging the dialog between the inhabitants and their environment is a driving force for smart sustainable and inclusive growth and for strengthening identity, encouraging local engagement is indispensable throughout the stages of the project. Questionnaires, workshops with decision makers, festivities, exhibitions, guided visits and other activities involving people are constituents of the knowledge-spreading process that links all involved actors (COE 2008:49-50).