Madrid Stakeholders participate in Focus Discussion Group
In order to gain knowledge on vertical and horizontal integration -in the context of SCALE-UP’s WP1 (Strategies for vertical and horizontal upscaling)-, a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was held on April 21st, with a group of local experts, in Escuela de Caminos de la Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain (UPM). Its’ main purpose was to discuss Madrid’s mobility strategy, and assess the various types of innovative mobility measures SCALE-UP is monitoring and assessing in Madrid city and region. The purpose of the FGD was to identify -with experts external to SCALE-UP project-, new or different challenges and barriers (for vertical and horizontal integration), than the ones being identified within the project through the multiple webinar exchange workshops being held regularly in each technical work package.
The dynamic or format of the event was a spontaneous conversation between all the participants, moderated by UPM team (horizontal integration) who brought up questions and topics previously crafted and designed jointly with ECORYS (vertical integration). The participants were urban experts from Madrid, who know the city very well, and with different areas of expertise, spanning over innovation, financing, governance, urban planning or social agenda, who work at local, regional and national scope, both in the public and private sector.
The event was a great success, with a rich discussion full of ideas and an in-depth analysis of Madrid’s problems and challenges, in terms of mobility, but also of drivers and recommendations. The FGD was recorded and the transcripts will be thoroughly analysed, under the focus group methodology standards. This will be a valuable source of information for WP1, to complement all the information being gathered on vertical and horizontal integration among the various Intervention fields of SCALE-UP measures.
Madrid’s FGD is the first one, in a series of 3: one in each of SCALE-UP’s urban nodes. An event -with same dynamic, questions and participants´ profiles-, is planned in Antwerp next May 20th, organized and moderated jointly by ECORYS and UPM; And later, in June 2nd, in Turku, an equivalent one, organized by UPM in collaboration with the City of Turku. The results from the 3 FGD’s will be analysed jointly by UPM and ECORYS and the findings will be part of WP1 deliverables and will be shared with the SCALE-UP community.
Author: María Beltrán Rodríguez (UPM)