PRIMA

Prototypical Policy Impacts on Multifunctional Activities in rural municipalities

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The proposed project will develop a method for scaling down the analysis of policy impacts on multifunctional land uses and on the economic activities. This method will rely on micro-simulation and multi-agents models, designed and validated at municipality level using input from stakeholders. The models will address the structural evolution of the populations (appearance, disappearance and change of agents) depending on the local conditions for applying the structural policies on a set of municipality case studies. We shall consider policies related to use of Structural Funds (SFs), Cohesion Fund (CF), Preaccession funds (PAFs) and EAFRD (respectively CAP). This project will include the following actions: - Review the EU structural policies, identify driving forces at EU, national and regional levels for multifunctional land use activities and provide baselines for the design of national and regional scenarios on multifunctional land use activities. - Interaction with stakeholders: pre-model engagement with stakeholders in terms of scenario design and formulating agent decision rules for agent-based models, on-model engagement with stakeholders mirroring agent-based models, and post-model engagement with stakeholders in terms of assessing model outputs. - Design and develop micro-simulation and multi-agents models, of local dynamics and of the impact of European structural policies at the municipality level. - Build a mapping between available data on municipalities and prototypical, contrasted evolutions of micro-simulation and agent based models. This will allow us to aggregate the results provided by these models at a regional level, on a set of regional case studies, and to compare these results with existing models at regional scale. - Investigate the potential of the approach to design a method that enhances the scope of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Sustainable Impact Assessment (SIA).'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The goal of the Prima project is to refine and simplify the study of the structural effects of policy on multifunctional land use and economic activity in rural areas. The activities considered include agriculture, forestry and tourism.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Project partners are developing computer models with the assistance of rural local authorities using information from local stakeholders. The models are based on a series of case studies that focus on changes in the population as a result of local conditions influencing the implementation of policy.

A review of EU structural policies was conducted, including the use of Structural Funds (SFs), Cohesion Fund (CF), Pre-accession funds and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). Researchers will also be able to identify the driving forces behind multi-functional land use activities at both the national and regional level, providing a baseline for developing fresh scenarios.

Two groups of stakeholders are involved who can assist in the development of scenarios and models. These are the institutions which implement policy and can assist in developing and testing models, and those that are affected by the policy.

The behaviour of those affected by the policies is applied to agent-based (AB) models of the impact of European structural policies at local authority level. Information from local authorities and data from the models can then be compared with existing models at the regional level. The results will be used to improve the scope of Impact Assessment (IA) techniques. Project partners are also carrying out an extensive literature review and conducting information surveys in order to develop a conceptual model that concentrates on the population dynamics and decision-making behaviour in rural areas.

Data from the Prima project can be used to develop better models for helping policy makers develop rural areas within the EU and improve the quality of life for the local inhabitants as well as providing a boost for tourism in marginal areas.