The EU co-funded DANUrB project completed its first year of implementation. Therefore, all project partners met again in order to review the project’s progress, to summarize the achieved results and determine the next procedures within the project. This partners meeting and workshop was held in Bratislava from 1st to 3rd March 2018 and was organized and hosted by the Faculty of Architecture, Slovak University of Technology.

After the welcome speeches of the Project Lead Bálint Kádár and the Dean of the Faculty Ľubica Vitková, all participants were greeted by Simona Ene from the Joint Secretariat of the Danube Transnational Programme. She wished good luck in future work within the project and expressed her willingness to respond to all issues of concern.

The first day of the meeting was devoted to the reviewing of the achievements within all seven work packages. After management procedures and financial issues, the project communication agenda related to all project activities was presented using detailed statistical data. The past twelve months of the project were both fruitful and challenging. Altogether, project partners organized almost 240 internal coordination meetings, 49 meetings with ASPs, they took part in47 discussions with stakeholders, participated in 33 international conferences (e.g. in China, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Austria, etc.) and wrote about 14 scientific papers and the same number of research reports. Subsequent reviews of the actual status of WP3 - Research Platform, WP4 - Cultural Network and WP5 - Spatial Studies resulted in an agreement on effective collaboration and coordination of important project outputs such as the Heritage and Stakeholders’ Datasheets, the DANUrB Book, Catalogues of student works, GIS database and Travelling exhibition. The DANUrB Strategy, yet to be formulated within WP6, will be based on inputs from all PPs based on the achievements of previous WPs. The presentation on communication was followed by one about the DANUrB Tours delivered by the Pocket Guide representatives. A very interesting part of this panel was the presentation of realized activities, events, exhibitions, participatory actions or microLabs linked tothe Danube river such as the “The expanded garden” or the “Photovoice project”. After all presentations, Simona Ene expressed her satisfaction with the progress of the project and described it as very well and effectively managed. She proposed to consider the participation of DANUrB representatives at the Annual Forum ofthe EU Strategy for the Danube Regionwhich will take place on 17.-18. October 2018 in Sofia and will deal with the methodologies of Danube related strategies and events. The first day of the meeting was wrapped up by the Project Lead who presented the structure of the upcoming events in Ilok, Backa Palanka, and Novi Sad on 6.-9. May 2018, Ruse / Giurgiu and Vidin / Calafat in September 2018, the Danube Delta trip in May 2019 and the final conference in Štúrovo / Esztergom on 29. June 2019.

Left to right, top to bottom: Bálint Kádár (Project Lead), Ľubica Vitková (Dean of the Faculty), Simona Ene (Joint Secretariat of the Danube Transnational Programme representative), Béla Zsolt Gergely (Project Manager - WP1 leader), Ján Legény (Project Communication Manager - WP2 leader), Margarita Kaisheva and Piroshka Varga (WP3 leaders – DANUrB Research Platform), Pavel Gregor (WP4 leader – DANUrB Cultural Network), Andreas Voigt (WP5 leader – DANUrB Spatial Studies), István Sándor (WP7 leader – DANUrB Tours), Eszter Dávida and Michael Anranter (DANUrB pilot action responsible persons), joint photo of all participants

The second day of the meeting was kick-started with a discussion about one of the final outputs of the DANUrB project - the DANUrB Book on the unexplored cultural heritage in communities by the Danube. Afterwards, partners were divided into three groups according to the three book sections and discussed all operative procedures regarding the cooperation on book chapters. The results of student workshops and the designs of interventions for pilot towns of Štúrovo / Komárno, Golubac / Novi Sad and student works from BME will be presented in three catalogues during the project’s implementation. The graphic design of the book and the catalogue was presented, too. After this section, the state of progress in setting up the GIS database was introduced by the team of the TU Wien which elaborated the template and the manual for it. During the whole event the exhibition of stakeholder and cultural heritage datasheets took place in the foyer of the faculty. These sheets serve as working documents and provide an effective way to understand the meaning of various types of heritage located along the Danube. It was decided to focus on items which have universal value or authenticity, which fit into the DANUrB matrix from the point of theme and scale and, finally, which can enhance the involvement of local actors in order to improve the life quality of the local community and make local identities visible. In the end of the third project period, all datasheets will be put into the GIS database and some selected texts will be integrated into the Pocket Guide application that will result in thematic DANUrB tours. Some examples, recommendations and inspiration from this guide tool were shown by its developers. The last presentation was dedicated to the DANUrB strategy that has to be useful for all stakeholders, not only for the project partners. The DANUrB strategy is a document of a common knowledge utilization and represents a toolkit for stakeholders enabling strategic actions based on cultural heritage. With its timeframe and goals, it is cooperation oriented and carries the DANUrB spirit. From the viewpoint of project management, a very important part of this partner workshop day was the Steering committee meeting at which more than 20 work package leaders and project managers gathered to discuss the project’s progress.

The third and final day of the partners meeting and workshop in Bratislava continued with two excursions focusing on the exploration of the Bratislava region. The first one led to the Slovak National Gallery. Its director general Ms. Alexandra Kusá introduced the current plans of the gallery and also its communication strategy concerning organized events and activities. Her speech was followed by a presentation by Mr. prof. Pavol Paňák, one of the authors of the gallery´s refurbishment project. He presented to the participants the future appearance of the gallery buildings, their function and a new connection to the pedestrian area of the Old town and to the Danube River. After lunch, all partners moved to the Danubiana | Meulensteen Art Museum Bratislava located immediately on the riverbank a few kilometres downstream from the city centre. This excursion devoted to contemporary art wrapped up the whole DANUrB partners meeting and workshop.

For more information about the DANUrB project, please visit dtp.interreg-danube.eu/danurb
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This project is co-funded by the European Union funds (ERDF and IPA)