Peer Review Meeting #2 in Västra Götaland Region

The peer review meeting of the CLIC project was organised during the same days as the HUL workshop and interlinked. Visits were distributed over both days in order to maximise time and inputs from stakeholders. This represented an added value since a high number of stakeholders was involved in the discussion, providing feedbacks from diverse perspectives.

Main objectives of the second Peer Review meeting in Västra Götaland were:

  • to introduce the CLIC project with the stakeholders, case studies, projects and context in which the Västra Götaland region is working;
  • to present main strengths of work, actions and projects of Västarvet and their complementarities with the CLIC project (like Sustainable Places project etc.);
  • to familiarize the CLIC project more with issues and obstacles working in rural areas;
  • to exchange experiences about similarities, differences and understand potential synergies among pilot cases / peers.

The program started with a meeting at the region’s house in Gothenburg where participants got an opportunity to meet colleagues from the region and heard an introduction to the Västra Götaland region and how they work. The introduction was held by Lisa Lundin, regional developer business, Ylva Gustafsson, regional developer for Culture and Björn Ohlén, developer for cultural heritage (Västarvet). They highlighted how in Västra Götaland, culture and heritage are an integral part of regional development, talking about their close collaboration in recent years on site development and support for local development in rural areas.

During the Peer Review meeting between CLIC partner cities/regions, Christer Gustafsson (Uppsala University) presented the Halland Model project, a trading zone for building conservation in concert with labour market policy and the construction industry, aiming at regional sustainable development. 100 historic buildings were saved from demolition and conserved only in Halland and approximately 130 in the Baltic Sea Region. Additionally, more than 350 new jobs were created.

Four conservation projects were visited and discussed:

  • Rossared Manor house;
  • Tjolöholm castle;
  • the public open-air swimming house in Varberg;
  • Grimeton Radio Station

Further projects visited during the PR were:

  • Uddebo;
  • Strömsfors;
  • Gustavsfors;
  • Forsvik;
  • Fengersfors;