MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR, DEAR DANURB-IANS!

Christmas brings us together in the most magical way, like no other holiday. The Danube River is the most connecting river in the world, and the cultural potential for the region's development is so enormous that we hope we have introduced you to at least a little of its magnetism and possibilities for progression. We wish you the best in every endeavor. May your desire for self-improvement never fade away. Don't stop respecting your roots and heritage, on the contrary, preserve and promote them.

Day and night, remember that we are stronger together. The journey uniting/connecting different communities and cultures is always more meaningful. A famous DANUrB+ Christmas interpretation song says: “DANUrB+ is comiiing to town”, so after Santa Claus, all Danube towns may expect us because our collaborative journey ("A Journey Connecting Communities") will continue in the years to come!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

DANURB+ HELD A PHENOMENAL “A JOURNEY CONNECTING COMMUNITIES” CLOSING CONFERENCE

The 3rd and Closing International Conference “A Journey Connecting Communities” together with the Final Partners’ Meeting on the DANUrB+ Project were held in Budapest, Hungary on 12 and 13 December. The events’ goal was to disseminate all the experiences and achievements of the initiative in their full glory. The partners looked back and presented their individual and common work that had been done, but the main emphasis was on the accomplishments and collaborations that will remain for the next generations, the future plans of the DANUrB International Association (DIA), and ideas for extension of the project along the Danube Region.

DANURB+ BOOKLET SUMMARIZES OUR ACHIEVEMENTS, ACTIVITIES, AND TESTIMONIALS ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DANUBE REGION

Here and now, we can present our beautiful-designed booklet that summarizes who are we, what we achieved, what were our activities, and what do we believe is the best for the brighter future of the Danube Region, working hard for the creation of a Danube Cultural Promenade. The DANUrB+ “Journey Connecting Communities” is about the shrinking cities along the Danube River, it is about the local producers, or service providers, the stakeholders and residents who want to learn how to valorise their cultural heritage or want to contribute to the social and economic development of the region. Take a deeper look and get to know better our achievements, activities, and testimonials that we are so proud of.

DANURB+ PRESENTS THE ATLAS OF HIDDEN URBAN VALUES ALONG THE DANUBE

One of the main results of the DANUrB+ Project is an Urban Atlas (D+ Atlas) aiming to discover hidden urban values along the Danube. The atlas is developed as a print and digital version. First, the structure of the atlas is innovative in such a trans-Danubian context, where many areas are still not well-mapped or seen on a national level. Second, the agenda of the atlas is to embrace and promote rich albeit usually hidden urban values through maps, but also including short texts, photos, schemes, tables, and diagrams about the specificities of Danubian cities and towns and their unique urban heritage. 

3 NEW FREE pocketguide TOURS CONTINUE REVEALING THE HIDDEN GEMS ALONG THE DANUBE

Sombor, Calarasi, and Little Danube join the close-knit family of the DANUrB FREE PocketGuide audio tours on 01.01.2023! Another special achievement for the DANUrB+ Project is the THREE additional PocketGuide audio tours that were scheduled for production until the end of 2022. They were visualized as a continuation of the development of the “Danube Cultural Promenade”, to strengthen the creation of a spatio-cultural comprehensive network. The tours are included to the 12 ones that are already available for everyone on the PocketGuide application for FREE.

DANURB+ IMPLEMENTED THE “SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP ALONG THE DANUBE” SCHOOL PROGRAM IN VIDIN, BULGARIA

On 21 December 2022, "Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov” High School in Vidin implemented the 2nd stage of the “Sustainable Entrepreneurship along the Danube” School Program developed by the DANUrB+ WPC Lead Partner, National Tourism Cluster “Bulgarian Guide” (NTC BG Guide). Students were divided into 5 teams and worked on generating business ideas based on the CANVAS business model, considering the local resources and assets of the district of Vidin, and of course, the potential of the Danube River.

STAKEHOLDERS’ MEETINGS AND FESTIVE DAYS IN TULCEA MUNICIPALITY

Between 14 and 15 November 2022, the new project partner team from INCD URBAN-INCERC made a 2-day visit to Tulcea Municipality (Tulcea County, Romania). Meetings with decision-makers and stakeholders at a local level were organized to showcase the DANUrB+ achievements and future plans/extension, but mainly to discuss the importance of the initiative for the localities – especially for those along the Danube – promoting and capitalizing the cultural attractions and cultural heritage objectives.

DANURB+ as PART OF THE CONFERENCE ON HERITAGE INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY

Another conference on innovation and digitalization for the future that the DANUrB+ Project participated in. On November 9 DANUrB+ Project Leader, Bálint Kádár, PhD Arch, from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department of Urban Planning and Design (BME Urbanisztika Tanszék) presented the initiative on international level during the “Conference on Heritage Innovation Technology”, under the EUSDR (Danube Region Strategy) Priority Area 3 - Culture, Tourism and People to People Contacts.

DANURB+ SCHOOL PROGRAM IN BULGARIA AS CAPITALIZATION OF THE TRANS-EDU-NET PROJECT

DANUrB+ was given as an example for capitalization of the TRANS-EDU-NET Project in connection to the developed school program in Bulgaria, named “Sustainable Entrepreneurship along the Danube”. This became evident by the presentation of Mrs. Desislava Mincheva-Yordanova, representative of the project partner National Tourism Cluster “Bulgarian Guide”, who participated at the “Interreg Youth Road Show in Southeast Europe” in Thessaloniki on November 8th 2022.

LAST REGIONAL STAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE IN THE MIDDLE DANUBE REGION 04-05.11.2022

The last Regional Stakeholder Conference in the Middle Danube Region, under the DANUrB+ Project, was organized in Golubac, Serbia on November 4-5, 2022. Partners and stakeholders from both sides of the border had the possibility to hold discussions on common values and local initiatives along the Iron Gates Region. This past weekend, the Serbian, Romanian, and Croatian DANUrB+ partners had a meeting and it was a new opportunity for local actors from both banks of the Danube to present themselves, exchange ideas and best practices in the perspective of collaborations and potential joint projects. 

DANURB+ JOURNEY CONNECTING COMMUNITIES ALONG THE BULGARIAN PART OF THE DANUBE 10 – 14 OCTOBER 2022

One of the last DANUrB+ Partners’ Meetings and the final Study Trip for the project were held in Bulgaria between 10th and 15th October. Apart from visiting many good new practices, cultural sites and heritage, the most important objective was the discussion for prolonging the initiative for the next program period. The capital city of Sofia became a meeting point for the various partners from Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

DANURB+ PARTNERS SHARED A STUDY TRIP ALONG MORAVIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, 25.09.–30.09.2022

At the beginning of autumn, between 25th and 30th September 2022, the DANUrB+ partners held a Study Trip along the Moravia Area in Czech Republic. The voyage down the historical region, in the eastern part of the country, offered great experience and displayed some renovations, attractions, and good practices that are closely connected to the DANUrB+ goals and activities. The project partners and stakeholders had the possibility to take this know-how into consideration and future implementation in their own countries – Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovakia.

DANURB+ as PART OF PLACEMAKING EUROPE WEEK IN PONTEVEDRA, SPAIN - SEPTEMBER 2022

This September DANUrB+ visited Spain! Our colleague, Laura Kovács participated in Placemaking Europe Week 2022 in Pontevedra, where she represented our great project and shared with the audience some of the best stories and methodologies we have. In DANUrB+ we use placemaking a lot as a tool to reach our goals like creating sustainable communities, revalorizing heritage or creating a regional brand from the local identity of our partner towns.

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