INTELCITIES and PICTURE - two new EU-projects were just launched with major ITAS involvement [02.04.2004]

Capitalizing on the legacy and success of the recently completed "SUT-Governance" and "INTELCITY" European projects of the 5th Framework Program, ITAS is now involved in two new European initiatives of the "6th Framework Program": PICTURE and INTELCITIES. Both projects will build up and expand the institute's capacities and expertise in the areas of Information Society Technologies, Sustainable Development, and Institutional and Policy Innovation.

INTELCITIES: Intelligent Cities

INTELCITIES is an integrated RTD project (funded from EU FP6 through the IST Programme) that brings together 18 cities, led by Manchester and Siena, with 20 ICT companies including Nokia, Microsoft and CISCO and 36 research groups to pool advanced knowledge and experience of electronic government, planning systems and citizen participation from across Europe. It will help achieve the EU policy goal of the "Knowledge Society" by 2010 through new forms of electronic governance of cities and greater social inclusion through enhanced access to services by citizens and businesses.  

Among the 89, ITAS is one of the 16 lead project partners heading the "e-Governance" Workpackage. The effort constitutes a core part of the INTELCITIES Activity area D: "e-Governance Development and Innovation". It aims at the development of a multi-dimensional and multi-actor"City e-Governance Policy Model "to facilitate an enhanced role and contribution of ICTs to the achievement of 'Good Governance' principles and goals in European urban decision-making in context of the Sustainable Knowledge Society.

PICTURE: Pro-active management of the Impact of Cultural Tourism on the Urban Resources and Economies

PICTURE is as an multidisciplinary research initiative between researchers, cities, and tourism and heritage organizations in Europe seeking to elaborate innovative policy and action-driven management solutions to urban decision-makers to promote cultural tourism as a means of preserving local heritage, boosting the local economies, and increasing the quality of life in their communities. The project is part of the European Union's newly launched '6th Framework Program', Activity area 'Policy support and anticipating scientific and technological needs'.

The main aim of PICTURE is to develop a strategic urban governance framework for the sustainable management of cultural tourism within small and medium-sized European cities. This framework will help establish, evaluate and benchmark integrated tourism policies at the local level with a view to maximising the benefits of tourism for the conservation and enhancement of the built heritage diversity and urban quality of life.

The ITAS activities under both projects are led by Dr. Krassimira Paskaleva-Shapira.

Weiterführende Links:

  • To view a short description of INTELCITIES within ITAS-Web-pages, click here
  • INTELCITIES website here
  • To view a short project description of PICTURE within ITAS-Web-pages, click here