The project aims at developing pin-point initiatives as an effective and low cost means of improving the quality of the townscape along rivers and canals. The project will involve local stakeholders in order to adapt planned activities to local needs. National think tanks are participating to increase relevance on the national level and to dis-seminate results to a wider audience by means of strategy and policy papers. Outputs will include among others a river park, restored quay areas and an interactive design tool.

The aim of the B-SURE project is to find out in what way Pin Point Initiatives can be used optimally to improve the quality of public spaces in neighbourhoods building on attractive and valuable townscapes along rivers and canals. Subaims are countering urban decline by increasing the quality of open spaces; preserving, developing and raising awareness of valuable townscapes along waterways; and finding out how Pin Point Initiatives can work as ?trigger money? to reach substantial effects with small means.

Expected Outcomes

During the project, 32 recreational facilities for inhabitants will be developed. All in all, some 25 000 m2 of waterfront will be sustainably revitalised. Local activities will also put places on the ?mental map? of inhabitants, thereby helping to change a negative image of particular locations or neighbourhoods. At the end of the project, an ?Everything you always wanted to know? manual will result.

Activities

The project will start with a survey of current knowledge of the use of Pin Point Initiatives, as well as with SWOT analyses of the project areas. Then, six Pin Point Initiatives will be set up. These will all be monitored by Universities and students, and the project managers will work in another participating city for at least ten days. The six initiatives are: - isolated and deprived neighbourhoods will be connected to the river and harbour as its urban heritage, including the construction of new cycle paths, a bridge and green space for recreation; - quays will be restored, to create an attractive route along the river and attractive links to town centres; - the acquatic history of deprived neighbourhoods will be used as an attractive element; - an interactive planning tool will be developed to enable a visual representation of urban heritage in the landscape, and this tool will be tested in several pilot projects; In connection to these initiatives, thematic workshops will be held for students in each city, and a transnational students competition will be held on city planning, architecture, culture etcetera. Finally, a exhibition will be shown in all participating cities, as well as other locations, after the formal end of the project.

Reported Outcomes

The B-sure project was set up to come to co-operate on international effort aimed at improvement of the quality of life in the town-harbour zones. The aim of the B-SURE project is to find out in what way small investments (so called "Pin Point Initiatives (PPI)") can be used optimally to improve the quality of public spaces in neighbourhoods along rivers and canals. Spatial elements such as water and cultural heritage play an important role in the development and identity of these places. The B-SURE partnership have thus rediscovered the urban heritage of townscapes along rivers, harbours and canals as a spatial element that have had a large impact on the quality of the neighbourhood. The B-SURE project have carried out different activities in order to make an impact based on integration of (1) exchange of ideas and innovations at the grass-roots level in PPI projects and through co-operation between the partners; (2) spatial research and (3) interaction with policy makers in order to impact on future policy-making. By the end of the project, B-SURE will incorporate the vision of small-scale Pinpoint Initiatives into local, national and if possible also international planning policy. Knowledge transfer between comparable challenges in the cities have also added an extra value to the PPI-projects. The purpose of the SWAPS was to increase the exchange of knowledge between the participating partners. On completion of the project, B-SURE will release an Everything You Always Wanted to Know manual, detailing final strategies and findings. In addition, a B-SURE film will be released during Spring 2007. Most of the activities have now been carried out as planned in the application. Activities that are still standing out to some extension are further dissemination of the results, final conference and presentation of the final report and project results.