ECF

Regéc, Streda nad Bodrogom, Veľký Kamenec, Veľká Ida – on the imaginary route between the settlements, running from castle to castles, some legendary figures of our history create a link between memories of the built past and tourists of the present. Regéc, where Ferenc Rákóczi II. grew up, and a central location of the kuruc battles. Streda nad Bodrogom, where Lajos Kossuth started his career. Veľká Ida, where the estate of the historic Csáky family is located. Veľký Kamenec, as the place of many historic events of Zemplén county including major battles.

The row of castle to castles, however, are often in a state of neglect or only partially renovated, and the exhibitions of novel content and form that would be attractive to visitors, as well as the necessary publicity, are missing. In each of the settlements in the border region participating in the partnership problems include loss of population due to migration and the scarcity of local employment opportunities. 

A common challenge and also an opportunity for the settlements is to renew and present these inherited cultural and natural values in a way that they become more attractive as part of a border-region circuit tour for tourism: by attracting visitors to a “fortress and castle” tour of several days, this can contribute to increasing the number of visitors, and thereby strengthen the economic potential. 

The direct aim of the project is the reconstruction of cultural heritage sites on the settlements concerned: the authentic reconstruction of the palace wing of the fortress of Regéc, the development of the castle in Streda nad Bodrogom and Veľká Ida, creating interactive exhibition and leisure spaces, as well as the development of the infrastructure for bicycle tourism in the region. 

The development also contributes to the keeping of the local communities, strengthening their self-consciousness, finding out more about the border regions, as well as strengthening natural and cultural tourism.

As a result of the project, the Renaissance palace wing in Regéc will be restored, an interactive exhibition installed, an educational path leading to the fortress and a parking lot will be built, a historical and recreational park and an exhibition house established, and bicycle racks installed. In Streda nad Bodrogom, the castle and the small adjacent building will be renovated, and a new exhibition installed. In Veľká Ida, the fence of the castle will be rebuilt and 3 exhibition rooms installed. In Streda nad Bodrogom and Veľký Kamenec, 4 rest stops will be built with bicycle racks, and information tables installed with the involvement of Malý Kamenec.

As a direct result of the project, 5124,3 m2 of buildings will be renovated, and 10 development documents related to the project elaborated. As an additional positive effect, the development will result in the maintenance of 1 job, and it will create also 1 new job. 3 women will participate in the management of the project, 1 new subpage will be created, and there will be 4 cross-border thematic articles/media appearances.

As a result of the physical development and marketing, there will be a significant increase, estimated at 6004 persons, in the visitors to the castle of Regéc and the castles in the project (The number of visitors to the supported areas, cultural and natural heritage sites).

As an indirect effect, the number of guest nights in the region will increase, contributing to the achievement of the target indicator set in the Programme, increasing the total number of visitors to the region. Another indirect effect, the settlements and the region will become better known, which may generate further projects and attract investors to the region. As a result of the economic growth, the economic stability of the settlements and their ability to keep their population will increase.

Based on the description of possible actions in the Operational Programme, this call for projects focuses on the construction of cycle highways in the metropolitan core region of Flanders (Inside the "Flemish Diamond" between the cities Brussels, Leuven, Mechelen, Antwerp and Ghent). This includes:

• Cycling bridges and tunnels over railways, regional streets and waterways
• Upgrading of routes along waterways to cycle highways.

Only municipalities with a validated local climate action plan can receive funding. The own funding rate is at least 15%.

More information: http://www.agentschapondernemen.be/download/files/documenten/105_-_efro_oproep_p3_sd2_-_fietssnelwegen_20151104.pdf

Developing the transnational economic potential embedded in the territorial assets of the Rhine corridor - this was the overall aim of the INTERREG IV B project "DEMARRAGE".

In order to achieve this goal, the project team designed an organisational framework to jointly handle the Rhine Cycle Route, implemented a marketing program and initiated business cooperation between Small and medium enterprises belonging to the tourism sector on transnational scale.

Period: 2010 - 2015

More information on: http://www.demarrage.eu/index.php?id=82

The MOL Bubi public bike-sharing scheme is a new mode of public transport in Budapest,
which consists of 98 docking stations and 1,150 bicycles.

More information on the project: http://molbubi.bkk.hu/a-molbubi.php

The PRO-BYKE project enables participating municipalities in the regions of Tyrol (Austria), South Tyrol, Veneto and Friuli (Italy) to develop a local action plan for cycling promotion in a 9-month participatory process. PRO-BYKE aims to initiate a long-term process of promoting cycling by implementing bicycle-friendly measures in order to convince even more citizens in Italy and Austria of the advantages of the bicycle as an everyday means of transport. As a result of the standardised and harmonised promotion of cycling, cooperation between Italy and Austria will be intensified and common procedures, measures and quality standards will be defined.

The local action plans are divided into the fields of organisation, infrastructure and communication. They also include minimum measures in order to create structures for a long-term process in the municipalities. The minimum measures include, for example, the appointment of a contact person for municipal cycling, the provision of information on cycling on the municipality's website or participation in European Mobility Week.

While the project is running until July 2020, the results are impressive already now. As of May 2019, amongst others:

• 8 cycling consultations have already been completed, while 30 more are currently underway;
• 230 bike-friendly measures have been adopted;
• 5 bicycle counting stations have been installed.

Around 75% of the project are funded by the European Union through the INTERREG programme V-A Italy-Austria. The project partners are the municipality of Vicenza (lead partner), the district community Burggrafenamt/Burgraviato (South Tyrol), the Climate Alliance Tyrol and the UTI (Unione Territoriale Intercomunale delle Valli e delle Dolomiti Friulane). Associated partners are the province of Vicenza, the province of Treviso, the Austrian state of Tyrol and STA Südtiroler Transportstrukturen AG/Strutture Trasporto Alto Adige SPA.