The EU Territorial Agenda 2020 highlights the growing tendency for polycentric territorial development reflecting the need for a stronger integration between peripheral areas with urban nodes. In order to avoid territorial polarization and reduce regional disparities, marginal territories endowment has to be improved in terms of accessibility, entrepreneurship and local capacities. These areas thus represent a great opportunity in terms of job opportunities as they offer a less saturated market, but conditions have to be created in order to effectively attract qualified workforce. Opportunities have then to be tailored on these marginal areas specific contexts, notably rich in ecological and cultural heritage but lacking in accessibility and connectivity. The S.T.R.E.E.T. project thus focuses on two main economic fields: alternative mobility and sustainable tourism. In this sense the travel and tourism sector contributes in 2014 to 9% of EU total GDP, with a predicted growth rates of over 4% annual, representing a possible trigger to revamp the economy of these territories. Mobility and tourism are l well-formed professional contexts at European level and already; however, the project intends to be innovative by matching the two sectors and in particular by applying mobility management competences to non-urban environments, creating a new professional profile as Expert for Sustainable Mobility and Tourism. The project thus aims at designing and implementing a training programme addressed to young unemployed or underemployed persons available on the labour market, with an academic (e.g. architecture, engineering, etc.) or high school degree, post-school diploma, and/or VET post-degree and/or having previous experiences in alternative mobility or sustainable tourism fields. They will be provided with cross-cutting and transversal competences, ranging from sustainable mobility management, related to the preservation of natural and ecological estates, to effective tourist flows attraction, fostering accessibility and services. Five partners coming from Italy, the United Kingdom, Slovenia and Austria, belonging to different domains and dealing with different topics (public/private, training, counselling, transport, sustainable tourism…), will therefore cooperate to provide these opportunities to a wide number of individuals and organizations. First of all, to the above described target group and, then, to a wide number of stakeholders. Companies and freelances working in the mobility and tourism fields will benefit from the presence of a recognized professional role with specific competences on sustainable tourism, soft and alternative mobility, spatial planning, etc. They can improve their workload, collaborate with professionals with a specific expertise and represent relevant job opportunities for participants. Finally municipalities and public bodies, beyond being potential employers and contractors, can benefit from the analysis of different national and regional framework contexts well-formed professional contexts, improving their decision-making process. To reach project objectives and these target groups, S.T.R.E.E.T. will implement an e-learning Platform, fostering an on line basic course open to all participants coming from the participating partners regions and, based on result achieved upon its completion, 63 young participants will be selected to participate to a training activity abroad. This activity will take place in all partner countries: Turin and surrounding areas (IT), Salzburg Alpine area (AT), Municipality of Bled (SI), London (UK) and will focus on the analysis of selected case studies, through an intensive programme lasting 5 days. The case studies will be chosen according to the analysis of best practices, innovative solutions adopted, problem solving approaches, strategies, etc. to deal with alternative mobility and sustainable tourism. These analysis results will be collected in the so-called S.T.R.E.E.T. Toolbox which will be made available and disseminated to all interested public. This means that the project will not end upon its closure, but is designed to become sustainable and continue on a long term. The S.T.R.E.E.T. Platform will remain on line and will progressively supply more courses focused on specialist topics, having the Toolbox as a textbook for all attendants. The Platform will also become a virtual job placement space with a network of firms/enterprises offering jobs or internship opportunities, an exchange platform for experts to compare and confront best practices, a reference guide with tourism opportunities. The S.T.R.E.E.T. project is developed at transnational level, as it will offer to participants opportunities to better understand foreign contexts, take part in a training activity abroad and be supported by a stable European network. All key assets in the tourism sector and a positive trigger for work quality and employment opportunities.
The S.T.R.E.E.T. project, started on the 1st September 2015 and ended on the 31st August 2018 and had the aim to define a new professional profile, Expert in Sustainable Mobility and Tourism, focused on two main fields: alternative mobility and sustainable tourism, which are opportunities for economic growth, local development and employment. The partnership included a Vocational Education Training Centre from Italy, a company in the transport sector from Italy, a Municipality from Slovenia, a consultancy in Sustainable Transport from the United Kingdom and a cooperation network of 25 municipalities with a touristic vocation in six alpine EU countries. The Project Idea: the general context in which the project took its idea was the need of a more integrated territorial development, taking into account peripheral and scarcely populated areas. These areas need to enhance their accessibility, foster entrepreneurship and enhance jobs creation, building strong local capacities. Thus, an effective mobility management could play a crucial role facing this territorial challenge. Nevertheless, although the profession is generally focused on urban contexts it can be re-qualified in terms of competences and expertise, tailoring on specific mobility needs of peripheral and mountain areas. Marginal areas can rely on tourism considered as a fundamental driver to maintain the economic activity of these territories. Strictly intertwined with the mobility field, tourism can trigger a sustainable economy based on the ecological capital, the agriculture and forestry field and the entire specific social capital. The new professional profile of Expert in Sustainable Mobility and Tourism, matching mobility and tourism under a sustainable perspective, will be able to work in peripheral, touristic contexts (e.g. Alpine Valleys) improving capacities for jobs opportunities in all EU regions. Another aim of the project was to foster entrepreneurship, in terms of knowledge and attitudes, which represents a key asset for a young person facing the labour market. For a not yet clearly defined profile, entrepreneurship can be an added value enriching basic skills with problem solving capabilities, autonomy and self-responsibility. Enterprising spirit and capability to design and suggest innovative projects and investments ideas are qualities appreciated in all sectors of the labour market, either private or public. The partnership designed and implemented a training programme addressed to young unemployed or underemployed individuals available on the labour market. The training was developed jointly by the partners and it is in English in order to give a EU perspective. The training was on line and also included 4 study visits (“learning activities”) in the UK, Austria, Slovenia and Italy. The courses foreseen by the project were of 2 types: the Basic course and the Specialised course. The BASIC Course aimed at filling potential gaps among countries and participants on basic mobility management knowledge and skills, so that all participants could be considered at the same level. The training programme was available on line and open to all participants. It was accessible via the platform and was also used as a base to select participants for the training activity abroad. The platform had a close access (login and password) so that the partnership could monitor the learners and their participation, and it is going to be open at the end of the project. The SPECIALISED Course was focused on sustainable tourism mobility management in urban and non-urban areas/regions. A significant part of the course was the study visits/learning activities abroad for a group of selected participants (who have attended the basic online course). Learning Activities Abroad: after the online training phase, 21 students were selected to participate infour training activities abroad.The training sessions lasted five days each and were carried out in London (UK), Werfenweng (Austria), Bled (Slovenia) and Torino (Italy). The study visits were practical examples of how different areas with different socio–economic backgrounds approach tourism and sustainable mobility. In each visit there were also lessons on the theme of mobility management, transport and tourism. The partnership managed to teach 21 young people a set of skills transferred by professionals in the fields of Sustainable Mobility and Transport and did it in an innovative way as, thanks to the Erasmus Plus funding , the learners were able to experience the topics directly on the field of the partner countries. They were able to make connections, see real companies working on sustainable mobility and generate fresh ideas for their future profession. STREET used modern tools to disseminate the project and decided, after the end of the project, to open the Learning Platform and make it accessible to all as well as designing a manual (Toolbox) on the theme of mobility and transports issues.