SDMed launched a major event in 2013 in Athens: "EchoPolis - Days of Sound 2013"

Today, when western society is acutely concerned with the questions of individual existence, strongly accentuated by the economic and financial crisis, the emotions are once again at the forefront of our concerns. Social progress also implies that emotions, which have so long been ignored when major decisions were made, be taken fully into account in the construction of our urban world. Our urban world, architecture, the city, and the neighbourhood, naturally, seem to build on emotion, either it is positive or negative but still prohibiting indifference.The event «Echopolis Athena 2013» will deal with ways to enrich sustainable architecture and sustainable city with a new dimension, that of the emotions and senses ...... who can certainly contribute to the rebirth of hope in society and in the city that is plagued by economic decline and collapsing due to the crisis.The contemporary and future city is being flooded by networks of interconnections both internally and with other urban and spatial scales (its region, the national and supranational level ..), it is increasingly using new digital technologies to regulate its functions. Thus, a firm integration of sensations and emotions in designing sustainable city can only be based on digital technologies and catch up with their progress. Concepts such as interactivity with the user and the inhabitant of the city, are becoming increasingly important in the design of the urban environment and the everyday life.

The event "EchoPolis Athena 2013" will focus on one of the most important senses: hearing, thus drawing attention to the sound quality of the urban environment and how, resources and tools  can be used so that  sounds, noises and music become design elements and factors of enrichment of sustainability in cities and neighborhoods. Relatively recently, the concepts of soundscape and sound design leave the research laboratories and invade the market, the world of professionals  and the discourse between designers and all those involved in the application of sound design in the city, architects, engineers, private companies of sound equipment and facilities.The EchoPolis Days of Sound 2013  major festival event was hosted by the french-hellenic and International SDMed Association which works for sustainable urban development in the Mediterranean and the Balkans on 29.9-3.10,2013 in Athens. The Event EchoPolis 2013 used as motto :"Re-invent emotions in the City, let's feel them, let's hear the city sounds" !

• Important scientific part of the festival will be the Echo&Polis International Conference "Sounds, noise and music for re-thinking sustainable city, buildings and econeighborhood"
• The conference offered a platform for interdisciplinary dialog and presentations of innovative research and development in the field of integrating sound in sustainable building and city planning and design, covering a wide range of subjects from sonic geography, ecology and soundscapes to the noise carthography and recent developments of sound design in general.

“Echo&polis 2013” invited specialists from academic and research institutions, industry and public institutions worldwide to present their innovative work. To be on the mailing list, please subscribe to the SDMed newsletter ( www.sd-med.org) or send an email to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Main organizer of the conference, the SDMed observation Network is known internationally for high-level events and research in the domain of sustainable buildings, cities and eco-neighborhoods in the Mediterranean basin.

Academic partners of the conference are specialists from French, Greek and other world-wide Universities and Research Centers, backed by a strong international scientific committee.

The Echo&polis 2013 Conference Topics were the following :

• "Sonic Geography-Sonic Landscapes-Sonic Ecology"
• "Sound and music in emotional architecture and emotional city"
• "Sound design and eco-innovation in cities"
• "Sound and Noise in sustainable cities and econeighborhoods"
• "Sustainable abatement of noise by optimized combinations of natural and artificial means"
• "Urban and rural quiet areas-Sound and noise Cartography-Strategic noise plans"
• "Noise exposure and effects on health, Noise action plans,annoyance maps"
• "Sound environment, Noise, Music,city attractiveness and sustainable tourism" 
• "Sound Heritage and soundscapes"
• "Sound and Noise in transport infrastructure" 
• "Sound and Noise in sustainable buildings"
• "Balancing energy performance, thermal insulation, acoustic comfort and air quality in buildings"

The event targeted :

• the recognition and enhancement of the sound dimension of our lives
• exploring the role of sound in the way of perceiving, feeling, and thinking
• considering the environment in our everyday life as an aesthetic system where sound is an important factor.
• complementing the way we see architecture and urbanism, with a new design factor and parameter : the"sound"
• promoting the idea of enriching the academia and research with the specification of sound design (design sonore in french)
• promote presentation of modern materials and management systems (of sound and noise protection, sounds creation and patterns of use of sounds)

Were present : 

Sound, acoustics and sound design scientists.

Architects, urban planners, sociologists, psychologists, philosophers

Academics and researchers in the above fields.

Companies that deal with related materials and building systems

Companies that deal with the supply of technological equipment of management, creation and use of sounds

Cities and networks of cities having developed innovative solutions for noise abatement or use of sound and music for increasing attractiveness

The official conference languages were English, French and Greek. 

See also :

EchoPolis Cultural Event

"Echopolis Soundscape Award"  

The venues of the event

1 - The Foundation "Michalis Kakoyannis"    

2 - The auditorium of the French Institute of Greece  

Partners and supporters

ESPONTrain Final Transnational Conference

Are European planners familiar with ESPON findings?

Integrating ESPON in higher education and policy making at central, regional and local levels

Athens, Greece

3 - 4 April 2013

The Greek ESPON Contact Point organized, in cooperation with the ESPON Coordination Unit and the ESPONTrain Partners, the Final Transnational ESPONTrain Conference“Are European planners familiar with ESPON findings? Integrating ESPON in higher education and policy making at central, regional and local levels”. The Conference took place in Athens (Greece) on 3-4 April 2013 and brought together 298 participants representing the ESPON CU, ESPON Monitoring Committee, ESPON Contact Points, ESPONTrain Tutors and Trainees as well as stakeholders participating in ESPONTrain and previous TNAs (e.g INTERSTRAT), mainly Universities and training centres (e.g the National Center of Public Administration ) but also ministries and regional/local authorities. Postgraduate and graduate level students in territorial development fields were also present.

As recent ESPONTrain implementation showed and this is widely reported, the best part of the teaching/learning experience is the fact that ESPONTrain largely neutralized some of the skepticism surrounding the ESPON projects, clearly marked their limits and highlighted the benefits from their use in every-day planning and policy making.

Purpose of the event

The purpose of the Seminar was two-fold:

• Enhance transnationality of the ESPONTrain Project, bringing together the ESPON Coordination Unit, 10 ESPONContact Points (ECPs) participating in the ESPON Programme as well as trainers and trainees involved in the ESPONTrain Virtual Learning Environment Project. This first day focused on the issue of using ESPON findings in higher education and in territorial development strategies. Participants mostly came from higher education institutions, both professors and students as well as from state and regional authorities.
• allow policy makers and practitioners to discuss themes for further integration of the ESPON knowledge in the implementation of territorial development and cohesion in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean.

The ESPONTrain Conference succeeded in promoting dialogue between political leaders, policy makers, academics and professionals on the field of territorial development and cohesion and was structured around the following topics:

1. The progress of the ESPONTrain Project, its results, its evaluation as well as the perspectives of further development of the ESPONTrain VLE model in the ESPON countries;
2. The use of ESPON findings in spatial planning and in territorial development focusing on European cities and regions;
3. The ongoing spatial and urban planning reform in Greece and in other ESPON countries and particularly in relation to the use of the ESPON findings;
4. The profile of European planners (qualifications, skills, etc.) required to meet the challenges of territorial development and cohesion in Europe and the necessary innovation that ESPON can bring in its education.
   

 

Welcome and Opening Speeches

Participants were welcomed by the Vice Rector of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences of Athens and the Greek ECP. Salutations were given by : the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, the Vice Rector of the National Technical University of Athens, the Greek representative in the ESPON Monitoring Committee, Representatives of the Region of Attica, members and experts of the Greek ECP.

The opening speeches by Peter Billing ( ESPON CU) and Stella Kyvelou (ESPONTrain LP) identified the ESPONTrain Project in the larger context of ESPON and its concept, structure, achievements, results and lessons learned by its implementation in the ESPON countries.

Followed 4 Round Tables that gave the opportunity to explore the degree of appropriation of the ESPON Findings both by the academic community and the state, regional and local authorities and the great potential of ESPON knowledge demand by higher education and stakeholders that the ESPONTrain could efficiently respond to, in the near future. These round tables also gave the opportunity to present ESPONTrain Project’s implementation in each participating country from different points of view, the one of the ECPs and this of the Trainers and the Trainees involved in the educational cycles which inspired the discussion on future ideas and demands for further implementation.

Priorities for further development of ESPON education activities

There is indeed a large potential in ESPON education, a fact that was clearly revealed by the ESPONTrain Final Transnational Conference and the participating ECPs asked for the continuation of the Project in order to reach more target groups of potential trainees and add more knowledge coming from the ESPON Projects in the existing ESPONTrain Virtual Learning Environment.

The ESPONTrain project contributed to the familiarization of specific target groups with ESPON results and vocabulary, but has also been a major input to the strategic goals of ESPON: on the one hand forming the next academic generation in ESPON related research, and on the other hand contributing to the “European territory of tomorrow”by developing learning efforts towards higher education institutions.

Furthermore, Since a large majority (70%) of the countries involved in the ESPONTrain Project were Mediterranean and Balkan (Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Romania, Bulgaria) and due to the positive response of the trainees and trainers in this region, a new initiative based on the ESPONTrain VLE Project could be considered in form of an educational ESPON “pole of competence” in the Mediterranean region, which also would contribute to the extension of ESPON towards neighboring countries. The location of this “pole” could be Greece or Cyprus which can have significant results for the extension of ESPON towards neighboring countries. This strategic goal of ESPON can be facilitated by and based on the ESPONTrain VLE Project.

The above proposal has been assisted by all Greek Universities and Training Centres present at the Conference as well as by Greek politicians.

Another important continuation, capitalization and synergy effect of the ESPONTrain Projects’ philosophy and successful implementation is the new TNA entitled “USESPON” whose Lead Partner is the UK ECP (RTPI) and partner with tasks mainly related to VLE further development mainly on ESPON Tools and the use of ESPON findings by regions is the Greek ECP (Panteion University) that is the Lead Partner of the ESPONTrain Project.

 More information

Considering that the theme is interesting to a wider audience, ESPON Contact Point will produce a report which aims at disseminating the main outcomes of the event based on the discussions registered during the Conference.This report may also be useful for the "USESPON" TNA.

Please find below the programme, the press releases and the presentations made during the event.

Should you have questions please do not hesitate to contact the Greek ESPON Contact Point at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photos: Efi Apostolopoulou and Nikos Apostolopoulos. More photos are available in the Gallery.

Presentations

Programme

Press Release

Press release ( after the Conference)

Stavros Kalafatis, Dep.Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change

Peter Billing 3.4.2013

Stella Kyvelou 3 4 2013

Peter Billing 4.4.2013

Maria Karaklioumi, Vice Governor, Region of Attica

Alexandru Rusu 1

Alexandru Rusu 2

Background 3 4 2013

Background 4 4 2013

Also visit : Facebook, USESPON Website, Greek ECP Website

The ECHOPOLIS 2013 e-Proceedings are now available !! 

see among the articles published : 

Kyvelou S., Floros C., : Building sustainability through integrated design process :  Balancing acoustic comfort with energy performance, air quality  and fire protection in buildings, Echopolis international 2013 Proceedings, Athens, Sept-Oct 2013

Authors :  

The CreativeMED project, capitalising five successful projects of the MED programme 2007-2013, aims to deliver a bottom-up smart specialisation framework leveraging the creativity and innovation potential of the Mediterranean “spirit” (such as cultural traditions and identities, openness and willingness of people to network and share, capacity to integrate technical with social innovation etc.). This conference is the first public event whereby the specific aspects of the framework are presented and validated against a number of regional smart specialisation strategies currently in preparation. The ultimate goal is to identify, trace and convey alternative innovation models, which create economic value by using culture-based dynamics.

For more info please visit : www.creativemed.eu

In the framework of the Project, the Central Union of Greek Chambers organises the CreativeMED Project Conference entitled : 
"MEDITERRANEAN CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION:TRANSFORMING REGIONAL POLICY"
The Conference will take place at the AMPHITHEATRON OF ACROPOLIS MUSEUM - ATHENS
10th April 2014 09:00 – 17:30

Please download the CreativeMED Conference Agenda here !

European seas and coasts are important drivers of the economy. In 2012 the EU’s blue economy represented 5.4 million jobs and a gross added value of just under €500 billion per year2. In all, 75% of Europe’s external trade and 37% of trade within the EU is seaborne. Much of this activity is concentrated around Europe’s coasts, but not all. Some landlocked countries host very successful manufacturers of marine equipment.

The blue economy is rather diverse and encompasses sectors such as coastal tourism, offshore oil and gas, deep-sea shipping, short-sea shipping, yachting and marinas, passenger ferry services, cruise tourism, fisheries, inland waterway transport, coastal protection, offshore wind, monitoring and surveillance, blue biotechnology, desalination, aggregates mining, marine aquatic products, marine mineral mining, ocean renewable energies. The individual sectors are interdependent and rely on common skills and shared infrastructures such as ports and electricity distribution networks.
The Blue Growth initiative sets out to harness the untapped potential of Europe’s oceans, seas and coasts for jobs and growth. As such, it represents the maritime dimension of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

Against this backdrop, “smart development” in the context of this workshop session was understood as the development of Europe’s blue economy based on knowledge and innovation. Taking up the Europe 2020 goals in the broader sense, smart development of the blue economy requires the development of innovative sectors, strengthening of research and innovation as well as promotion of education and lifelong learning to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the economy.