The starting point of the project were the tasks implemented under WP2. The project has first performed a metabolic analysis of eleven paradigmatic tourist urban areas: Nice (FR), Lisbon (PT), Syracuse (IT), Copenhagen (DK), Kavala (GR), Santander (ES), Nicosia (CY) and Ponta Delgada (PT), Dubrovnik-Neretva County (HR), Tenerife (ES) and Tuscany Region (IT). Through this, the project analyzed how tourism activities together with urban patterns, drivers, consumer behavior, lifestyles, culture, architecture and socio-economic issues can influence the metabolism of the cities. Thus, a database was produced to assess the baseline conditions of each pilot city in terms of tourist waste production and total urban waste production before the implementation of the URBAN-WASTE strategies. On the other hand, WP3 activities ensured an active engagement of stakeholders in a transversal way throughout all project activities. They were involved in a situation and behavioral analysis to understand how lifestyles, cultural and socio-economic background and gender affect consumption and use of resource patterns. In total, over 500 policy makers, researchers, representatives of the industry and of the civil society, individual citizens and tourists were mobilized into Community of Practices to foster the co-development, co-implementation and co-monitoring of the strategies.
Within WP4, the outcomes of the urban metabolism analysis and the results of the participatory process were adapted and integrated for the identification of eco-innovative, inclusive and gender sensitive waste prevention and management strategies, addressing three main target groups: citizens and tourists, tourism operators and service providers and representatives from waste management services. In this way, 3 key tools were produced for potential replicability: i) pilot forms, containing waste and tourism data from the pilot cases to provide context; ii) measure forms, comprising 22 waste management and prevention strategies, including the ICT tools developed under WP5, namely an interactive mobile application (WasteApp), interactive maps layers and a Food waste tracking device; and iii) policy-makers forms, to support their integration into waste management plans.
Eventually, each city or region implemented 3-5 strategies (WP6) over a period that ranged between 4 months to 1 year, depending on the type of measure and pilot case. Each strategy involved a strong communication campaign and was backed by an Operative Plan and settled by a Public-Private Partnership between the local authorities and stakeholders who, together with project partners, monitored the results that would feed the assessment of environmental, social and economic impact performed under WP7. Such assessment showcased that all strategies, to a greater or lesser extent, resulted in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and constituted overall positive impacts in awareness raising potential, job satisfaction and capacity building of employees, among other factors. On the other hand, despite the limited available data, in general the economic impact assessment showed that most strategies require low economic investments and cost saving opportunities were identified.
With these results in mind, the replication potential of the strategies into other EU cities was assessed and provided insights on the different factors affecting it and the importance of adapting to the local context for the successful implementation. In order to optimize dissemination and exploitation of this and rest of project results, a series of capacity building activities took place and guidelines for policy makers were developed, along with a comprehensive dissemination and communication strategy (WP8) designed to reach at EU level all the different target groups addressed in the project.
