2nd Stakeholders workshop in Rethymno, Crete 7 & 8 June 2016 “Preparing coastal regions for extreme and rare events”

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Pearl-stakeholder2NTUA implements the 2nd stakeholders’ workshop in the case study area of Rethymno in Crete, Greece.

The workshop is organised with the support of Municipality of Rethymno and will be held at the Centre of Social Welfare of Rethymno. Members from all identified stakeholders groups will participate and interact during the two day participatory event.

Aim of the workshop is to continue the work started during the 1st event (Oct 2015) , further promote the involvement of local stakeholders in a participatory procedure for flood risk management and continue the  process of establishment of the local LAA.  

Representatives from local and regional authorities, NGOs and private stakeholders groups will have the chance to interact with PEARL outcomes and with each other.

Through  learning games, round tables and live demonstration of PEARL tools the researchers will attempt to further involve stakeholders and promote  local LAA’s future action.

More specifically workshop’s activities will be :

  • Presentation of the household survey conducted in Rethymno city regarding risk perception. Comparative analysis with 1st workshop’s results.
  • Working groups for the identification of potential LAA action related to awareness raising and local society preparedness towards flood risks.
  • Presentation of PEARL platform and working groups for the formation  and assessment of extreme scenarios & Qualitative Risk Analysis
  • Live demonstration of PEARL Knowledge base – Training activity  for the utilization of KB  by local authorities and stakeholders
  • Live demonstration of Agent Based Modelling – Game activity to introduce the philosophy of ABM to stakeholders

Download the agenda of the workshop (in Greek).

Download the invitation in Greek, in English

Marbella, Spain: one city, two successes

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5PCM - Marbella, SpainMarbella revealed itself to be an extraordinarily prolific city for the PEARL project. Not only it gathered over 60 local stakeholders for the establishment of the Learning & Action Alliance (LAA). It also allowed good discussions among members of the Consortium during the 5th Project Committee Meeting.

From 12 to 15 January 2016 the Spanish partners CETAQUA and HYDS hosted the two events back-to-back in the Andalusian city. Being Marbella one of the case studies’ site, a first workshop was organised to provide authorities, civil society, and the private sector with a forum where to exchange views about the impacts of coastal flooding on the municipality. In this sense, the kick-off meeting was very successful, both in terms of attendance and outcomes: the numerous participants were finally able to create a cooperative environment and outline a local action plan to deal with this kind of extreme events in the future.

In the wake of this accomplishment, the PEARL 5th Project Committee Meeting debated the way forward for the project in the next six months. After reviewing progress achieved since June 2015 in the Case Studies and Work Packages, the further development of e-learning platforms and tools captured most of the discussions. The meeting provided as well an occasion to gain an insight of the investigations carried out by Young Researchers. A very pleasant field trip in the mild Spanish climate to the areas previously affected by floods and subject matter of the analysis of the local case study concluded the meeting.

Photos of the event are available in the Gallery.

PEARL Taiwan Workshop 2015

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Workshop 4From 25 to 28 November 2015, the PEARL partners National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) organized the “PEARL Taiwan Workshop 2015” at NCKU premises in Tainan, Taiwan. The event was chaired by Prof. D.J. Doong and supported by the Ministry of Science of Technology of Taiwan together with project PEARL.
Prof. Zoran Vojinovic, PEARL coordinator, opened the workshop with an introductory lecture about the project. He was followed by Prof. Peter Froehle and his colleagues Angelika Grühn and Sandra Hellmers from the Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH), who gave presentations related to the case study in Hamburg, Germany. In addition to this, Prof. Doong illustrated the pilot study research at Yilan, Taiwan, while his colleague Prof. Wang presented field experiences about the combination of science and local Group photo at NCKU Banyan gardenwisdom for decision making in flood-prone area. Thanks to the fact that the workshop was open to all public, more than 80 people attended, including students and staff from universities, research institutions, consultancy companies, as well as central and local governments.
After class lessons, the panellists had the opportunity to visit two Tainan coastal protection areas, the Coastal Ocean Monitoring Center at NCKU and the Taipei Flood Control System located at the River Management Office of the Water Resources Agency (WRA), Ministry of Economic Affairs.

PEARL Knowledge Base Platform illustrated at the Amsterdam International Water Week

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AIWW_presentation_ChristosOn 3 November 2015, the International Water Association (IWA) and Deltares organised a workshop on “Tools for Urban Resilience & Climate Adaptation” in the framework of the Amsterdam International Water Week (2-6 November, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). The special event showcased several tools to assist urban planners, municipalities and other stakeholders in the identification of risks, selection and design of solutions, and investment decision-making to address flooding due to local and upstream precipitation or storm surges.
Among the speakers was Christos Makropoulos from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), who presented the Knowledge Base Platform for Resilience Measures and Strategies developed within WP5 of the PEARL project. In front of a crowded room, he illustrated the operation of the tool through few practical examples and highlighted the connections with PEARL Web Learning & Planning platform. By exchanging views with developers of similar complementary instruments and receiving the opinion of the public, various possible improvements were identified for the further development of the platforms. The great attendance made the workshop very successful not only in promoting the tools and project PEARL, but also in collecting content contributions to the platform.

Positive feedback from local stakeholders in Rethymno, Greece

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Working Groups 2 Oct-5The first Stakeholders’ Workshop organised by the National Technical University of Athens on 1-2 October 2015 in Rethymno, Greece was well received by local authorities and organizations. Not only it benefitted from the presence of all interested parties, from municipal institutions (including the city Mayor) to public services, regional units, civil protection, NGOS, and development agencies. It also enjoyed a great resonance in the local media, which publicised the event before and after its occurrence.

Read more about the Stakeholder’s Workshop and the Case Study of Rethymno at this page.

A photo gallery of the event is available here.

First Stakeholders Workshop, 1-2 October, Rethymno, Greece

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Rethymno_workshop_invitation_enThe National Technical University of Athens is organising a stakeholders workshop entitled “Preparing coastal regions for extreme and rare events” in the case study area of Rethymno in Crete, Greece.

The workshop is supported by the Municipality of Rethymno and will be held at the Centre of Social Welfare of Rethymno. Members from all identified groups of stakeholders will participate and interact during the two-day event. Aim of the workshop is to promote participatory procedures in decision-making related to flood risk management and the establishment of the local Learning and Action Alliance (LAA).  Representatives from local and regional authorities, NGOs and private groups will have the chance to interact among each other and with PEARL research team through learning games and activities. These are inspired by the future workshop scenario and targeted to the:

  • Establishment of facts in terms of stakeholders’ perception of flood risk and identification of problems
  • Development of  renewed images and setting up of a common vision
  • Establishment of the local Learning and Action Alliance (LAA).

Download the agenda of the workshop (in Greek).

PEARL presented at TICASS workshop in Genoa, Italy, 20th February 2015

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On the 20th February TICASS, the Consortium promoted by Regione Liguria on Innovative Technologies for Environmental Control and Sustainable Development, organised a workshop about “Research that generates innovation for a sustainable future” in Genoa, Italy.
Within the thematic session on “The perception of flood and landslide risk”, Alessandra Marchese from GISIG presented PEARL and, in particular, the work in progress to implement the Genoa case study. In front of a public of more than 60 people, she could not only illustrate the project, but also exchange practices and ideas with other five speakers coming from different backgrounds (politics, engineering, science and research), especially concerning technologies and tools able to support flood and landslide prevision and prediction.

Furthermore, the event hosted a poster session where PEARL was showcased together with many other interesting projects. An abstract outlining the objectives and outcomes of the research supported the poster.

It was a great success in terms of outreach for PEARL, which was well received by the 200 people coming from 10 Italian regions who attended the workshop.