Landl go SMART

The Styrian Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark extends in the east of the district of Liezen across the 4 member municipalities of Altenmarkt b. St. Gallen, Landl, St. Gallen and Wildalpen. With 586 km² and approx. 6,100 inhabitants, it is the largest nature park in Styria, but at the same time very thinly populated. The nature park management organises activities for the region based on the four pillars of sustainable tourism, nature conservation, education and regional development. The region is characterised by three cultural landscapes: managed forests, the rivers Enns and Salza and grassland. Extensive grassland farming can be found on alpine pastures and orchards. Historically, the region is characterised by the nearby Erzberg and the associated mining industry over the centuries. Various industrial companies are still the main employers today, but there are also a variety of professions in sustainable tourism as well as in agriculture and forestry. In this context, the region is nevertheless characterised by demographic changes and emigration. There is currently no sign of a major trend reversal, but various challenges are emerging.

The municipalities of Wildalpen and Landl involved in the creation of a SMART VILLAGE concept have a total area of around 458 km² and a population of 3,065. The two municipalities of Landl and Wildalpen are very closely intertwined in terms of tourism due to the Salza river and the expansion of the Dürenstein-Lassingtal wilderness area, so it only makes sense to consider the two municipalities as a unit for this process. Considering the municipality of Wildalpen alone would not be effective due to its small population. Furthermore, the last corner of the LAG Styrian Iron Road is also integrated into the SMART Villages topic. Accordingly, there are various challenges  both municipalities have to face. The small settlement sizes and urban sprawl sometimes result in disadvantages in the development of public transport services and therefore no longer meet the mobility needs of the population and tourists. In order to compensate for this lack of transport services, the Gesäuse Collective Taxi and now the Salzaline Boat Taxi offer a tourist mobility service that meets the needs of the population. There are only limited adequate mobility connections to the inter-regional transport network at Weißenbach an der Enns railway station.

One unstoppable trend in the region so far is the migration mentioned at the beginning, which is leading to the desolation of town centres and vacancies. However, the municipalities are constantly endeavouring to at least revitalise their own buildings and find economically viable new uses for them. A good example of this is the “Alte VS Hieflau”, which was revitalised through an upstream participation process. Tourist accommodation has been created here, which is now being successfully marketed via the newly created digital platform “Naturparkresort”. Private initiatives have also decided to build or modernise accommodation. The innovative spirit to make a difference in the region is palpable. We want to capitalise on this spirit of innovation by involving the population and regional players (stakeholders) to a high degree and use it as part of the planned reorientation to become a SMART VILLAGE. The municipalities of Wildalpen and Landl are ideally suited as SMART VILLAGE municipalities as they build on existing initiatives such as the KLAR! Nature and Geopark Steirische Eisenwurzen and other projects (e.g. intelligent management of private room rentals via the Naturparkressort booking platform) and are open to new innovative approaches.

Key questions: How can the migration trend be counteracted? What incentives are needed to encourage more people to move in? can presumably not be fully answered in this project, but individual implementation projects derived from it could make a contribution to reversing the trend. Furthermore, project experiences from other regional participation projects, e.g. in the course of the reutilisation of the old primary schools in Hieflau and the LA 21 project “Climate-friendly landscape conservation”, can be built upon and incorporated into the creation of the SMART VILLAGE concept. KLAR! will provide valuable input from a preceding KLAR! workshop series on the topic of mobility into the current project. The aim is to develop an action map for climate-friendly mobility in the 4 municipalities of the Styrian Eisenwurzen.

Three topics will be addressed:

Vacancy and town centres

mobility

Climate protection and adaptation to climate change

The three issues must be seen as a unit and are mutually dependent. Without a functioning and reinvigorated town centre, the issue of mobility in the two peripheral and urban sprawl communities will be difficult to solve, whether it be everyday or tourist mobility. Of course, the more peripheral districts such as Hinterwildalpen, Gamsforst, Krautgraben, Gams and Palfau must also be connected to the village centres, as many tourist destinations are located here. This means that tourist mobility also plays an enormous role in the communities surrounded by nature reserves. The issues of town centre development and mobility are closely linked to climate protection and climate change adaptation. Be it land consumption due to the lack of use of vacant buildings or derelict land and the lack of mobility options, which leads to a high proportion of second and third cars.Smart mobility solutions could include stationary car sharing services in the respective neighbourhoods or settlements in order to reduce the number of second and third cars. A digital vacancy register could stand for smart town centre revitalisation. But vacancies are also already being utilised in the region. The reuse of the “Alte Schule Hieflau”, which is managed by the nature park under the digital platform Naturparkresort, or the “Emma Wanderer” project, which is currently being developed as a co-working place in the middle of nature, where nature and the digitalised world are combined

The following activities result from the collection of questions.

Activity 1: Analysing existing projects that can be built on.

Activity 2: Organisation of participation formats or events (including digital components) tailored to the respective target group (population, stakeholders) and surveys to obtain information from the local population in order to achieve a high quality of participation. An example of this would be decision-making competence and assumption of responsibility with regard to a change in individual mobility behaviour.

Activity 3: Development of a SMART VILLAGES concept as a municipal basis for action and decision-making with concrete implementation measures in order to be able to address the SMART VILLAGES topic for the next LEADER period 2023-2027.

This project is intended to create the basis for the implementation of the SMART VILLAGE approach in the two municipalities, which is to be anchored in the region in the future through concrete implementation projects and the ongoing participation of an active group of citizens.

Kick-off event on 14.04.2023

At the kick-off event on 14 April 2023 in Palfau, a total of 40 participants collected initial ideas on the three topics.

Johanniskirtag Hieflau on 25.06.2023

On 25.06.2023, the population of the district of Hieflau had the opportunity to note down ideas for vacancies and town centre revitalisation on specially prepared postcards at the Johanniskirtag.

Excursion to Stanz on 30.06.2023

During an excursion to Stanz im Mürztal, the municipalities of Landl and Wildalpen gathered input on how citizen participation can work sustainably. Of course, the framework conditions are different in every municipality and the respective citizen participation process must be individualised. The inputs were: Energy communities, Hupf-Auf Bankerl, Trixis Hofladen, Kostnix-Laden etc.

Colouring campaign by Wildalpen, Landl and Gams primary schools

Citizen participation is also about the future of the municipality, and this affects the youngest members of the community no less. That’s why the pupils of the Wildalpen, Landl and Gams primary schools were able to take part in a painting campaign and contribute ideas about what they would like to see in their immediate surroundings. The ideas ranged from wooden riding horses to basketball hoops on the school square, a farmers’ market, a natural region and the reopening of a restaurant.

Ideas box in Großreifling in the Schwarzlmüller department stores’

In order to inform more citizens about the Wildalpen:Landl go SMART project and to involve more of them, an ideas box with postcards for ideas was set up in the Schwarzlmüller department stores’.

Ideas box Raika Wildalpen with exhibition of the drawings VS Wildalpen

In order to inform more citizens about the Wildalpen:Landl go SMART project and to involve more people, an ideas box was set up in the RAIKA Wildalpen and the drawings were exhibited.

Inspection followed by a workshop in Großreifling

On 29 September 2023, the first of three inspections took place in the municipality of Landl/Großreifling. The route led from the Großreifling Forestry Museum via the car park to the “Kohlwaag” via the Reiflinger footpath to the Hoamat, where some ideas were concretised and worked out. The Kohlwaag was inspected from the inside and a few surprises were discovered. Apparently there was once a small coffee shop in the old box opposite the church. The following ideas were worked out: Reactivation of the old Kohlwaage – club pub, Reifling macht sauber campaign day, generation park – chill base, etc.

Inspection with subsequent workshop in Hieflau

The second of three inspections in the municipality of Landl/Hieflau took place on 6 October 2023. We started at the Hieflau Citizens’ Service Centre via the church square, down to the Snail Park and past the Waghaus (which has since been demolished).  We then gathered at the newly created Emma Wanderer remote working campus to brainstorm, where some ideas were concretised and worked out. We discussed the Turbine Park, the subsequent use of the square near the Waghaus, the Kirchplatz building and a colouring campaign to beautify the town. The first steps are already being planned. A small project for a table football pitch has been submitted to the Styrian Project Fund and initial plans are underway for the Turbine park. Stay tuned and stay on the ball!

Inspection with subsequent workshop in Hieflau

Last but not least, the third inspection in the municipality of Wildalpen took place on 20 October 2023. The starting point was the Salzatalhof and we then walked to the Hotel Bergkristall and back via the Wildalpen primary school. We took a closer look at a possible meeting zone, the park between the municipal office and the HochQuellWasser Museum and the playground at Wildalpen primary school. We then met in the museum’s seminar room to concretise the ideas. We concretised ideas for a possible open-air cinema, the park, etc. Stay on the ball and don’t watch what happens from the outside!

Action day Großreifling

A day of action took place in Großreifling on 23 October 2023. Some people from the participation process got together to clean up part of the footpath from Oberreifling to Unterreifling. We will continue in spring. We hope for numerous participants.

Action day Wildalpen

Together with the Styrian Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark and the Wildalpen primary school, we planted a snack hedge and a wild shrub hedge in our small park between the municipal office and the HochQuellWasser Museum today! These will not only invite you to snack, but will also attract numerous insect and bird species.

A green step as part of our “Wildalpen:Landl go SMART” project, which aims to strengthen our village centre and make it more attractive. The project will continue next year: seating will be added to brighten up the park and invite people to linger and observe.

Action day Hieflau

Together with the Styrian Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark and the Hieflau kindergarten, we have upgraded the Turbine Park opposite the Hieflau Citizens’ Service Centre with wild bee hotels and bird nesting boxes! A flower meadow is to follow.

A green step as part of our “Wildalpen:Landl go SMART” project, which aims to strengthen our town centre and make it more attractive. Next year, the project will continue: seating areas will brighten up the park and invite people to linger and observe

Kicking like Beckham

The “Kicking like Beckham at the Hieflau 2023 outdoor pool” project was implemented to provide children and young people with a place to play football. Together with the Raiffeisen Hieflau sports club, the municipality of Landl levelled and drained a little-used area in the outdoor pool in advance. Thanks to the Styrian Project Fund, additional equipment (goals, footballs, a football net and a bench) could be purchased. To celebrate this, the Hieflau sports club organised a football training session in the multi-purpose hall on 28/12/2023 due to the weather. The children and youngsters were able to put their skills to the test against the senior and women’s teams. Youngsters from a neighbouring football club, FC Radmer, were also present. The children and young people showed just as much skill in assembling the seating as they did in playing football. Snacks and drinks were served in between and afterwards.

With the materials financed by the Styrian Project Fund, the children and young people of the district of Hieflau, Landl now also have the opportunity to indulge their passion and are no longer dependent on their parents’ pick-up and drop-off service to be driven to the sports field six kilometres away. Furthermore, the football enthusiasts can now play safely and do not have to play between parked cars.

This project support has also shown that the voices of parents, their children and young people are heard and that citizen participation really does pay off.

You want to take part too?

No problem! Just contact us at m.gebeshuber@eisenwurzen.com and get information. You are very welcome to participate and help shape the future.

This citizen participation process as part of the Local Agenda (LA21) is supported by the Province of Styria and the European Union

Mit Unterstützung von Land Steiermark und der Europäischen Union (LEADER).