The goal of the project was to provide urban and regional development staff with green, data, social and digital skills tailored to the evolving job market. A training should prepare them for innovative development projects, oriented in the Green Deal and other regulations crucial for sustainable urban design, such as SDGs, Leipzig Charter, EU Taxonomy and Sustainable Finance Regulation, while enhancing efficiency through competencies in managing impact data related to development sites and navigating multi-stakeholder decision-making scenarios. Concrete objectives were: O1: Develop an interactive Green Deal Maturity Check tool to assess the knowledge and mindset of the target group, serving as inspiration and support for workshop selection (A2). O2: Create a VET training program with three workshops for urban, rural, and regional development staff, including decision-makers, focusing on Green Deal principles (A3). O3: Evaluate the training program with European target group staff, considering local-specific aspects (A4). O4: Develop digitally accessible self-service material for self-study, including theory, practical examples, and multimedia learning (A5). O5: Promote Green Deal thinking and action within the sector (A1).
Facing global events and increasing urbanization, effective area development poses significant challenges: How to plan spaces that are socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable? In the course of longstanding professional activities, the consortium of „Making Cities Fit for Green Deal Development“ witnessed a lack of dedicated capacity building in practical sustainability competence in the urban development sector. Project lead and holistic architect Laura P. Spinadel for example observed the market throughout 35 years of multi-disciplinary engagement in the architecture, planning and development sector. Experiences especially in large or disadvantaged development areas, where overlooking aspects of sustainability in planning may result in high correctional costs and negative societal impacts, showed a need for better trained professionals. The identified main needs were education in - integrating Green Deal and associated regulations knowledge into daily work, - impact assessment across carious dimensions of sustainability and - managing multi-stakeholder settings through participation methods fostering consensus for the common good – along with elevating digital competences to enhance process efficiency.