Integrated Territorial Investments for Warsaw Metropolis – strict cooperation between 40 communes
About this good practice
The Warsaw Metropolis is one of the most dynamically developing agglomerations in Europe. Seeing this potential, the City of Warsaw has concluded a cooperation agreement with neighbouring communes and created a common investment strategy (under ITI) with them, which is implemented using the EU funds. The Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) is an instrument created by the European Commission for more effective implementation of operational programmes in 2014-2020 and achievement of the "Europe 2020" Strategy objectives. Moreover, the implementation of ITI has created a new type of cooperation of municipalities, which did not exist on such a large scale. In the regional development, there is often a case of a core city growing at the expense of surrounding suburban municipalities. The reported practice shows that this areas can develop together. ITI projects are implemented in the following areas:
a) public e-services
1. The Virtual Warsaw Functional Area
2. E-care – an integrated system of care-service support based on ICT tools
b) Low-emission transport
1. The development of a cycle routes network
2. The development of the P+R parking lots network
c) General and pre-school education
1. The development of care system for children under 3
2. Education and career counselling.
There is a strict cooperation between 40 communes of various types under the ITI: City of Warsaw as a city with county rights, 14 urban communes, 12 urban-rural communes and 13 rural communes
Resources needed
The amount allocated for the implementation of Integrated Territorial Investments is around 167 million EUR and comes from the Regional Operational Programme for the Mazowieckie Voivodeship 2014-2020.
Intermediate Body, which manages the implementation of ITIs, employs 13 people.
Evidence of success
List of achieved results:
a) public e-services
Results will be achieved at the end of the projects’ duration in 2022
b) Low-emission transport
21 projects: 471 km length of bicycle routes
33 projects: 62 P+R parking lots, 5903 parking spaces
c) General and pre-school education
1743 new places of care for children under 3
242 educational institutions supported
The success of the ITI projects was determined by effective cooperation between the municipalities of the Warsaw Functional Area
Potential for learning or transfer
The uniqueness of the ITI is due to the fact that EU countries individually decided how to implement this instrument. The ITI is addressed to a defined urban functional area or a specific territory which is not always constituting as a separate administrative entity in the territorial division of the country. In Poland, it was decided to implement ITI as a cooperation of various local government units: cities, counties, communes. Therefore, the co-financed projects cannot be detached from each other, there must be interrelation. Close cooperation of the municipalities resulted in the emergence of relations that have not existed on such a scale so far: deepened integration, reduced competition of municipalities, eliminated concerns about the dominant position of the major city, encouraged to solve common problems. This practice promotes a partnership model of cooperation, so its potential for learning can be used by other NUTS3 units in which there is a major city and suburban areas.
Further information
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