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In the past 20 years, there has been a global development of the city, but thegeographical distribution of the population has changed. Rising incomes of theworking population have facilitated their movement into the less urbanised per-ipheral areas or the Westside neighbourhoods of the city (Highcourt, Newcourt).
At the same time, some of the more popular areas on the Eastside (Zecourt,Lowcourt) have attracted poorer ethnic minority groups. The other remainingresidents, which stayed in those areas, are mainly retired or with low incomes. The Historical City Centre and the new business centre of Incourt have beenthe priority of the previous mayor and his team. They have managed to deve-lop a very attractive city centre for businesses and tourists.
Since the past elections and the change of majority, the Zeville City Councilhas shown a growing concern for the declining neighbourhoods. A new stra-tegy has been designed for a better quality of life in those areas, focussing onshopping streets and cultural events. The implementation of this strategy will bebased upon a strong involvement of local partners and communities. Two newproject managers have been appointed, one in Zecourt and one in Lowcourt.
This strategy aims to create neighbourhood dynamism and have positiveimpacts on trade, employment and quality of life for the residents.
2 - LOCAL CONTEXT OF ZECOURTZecourt quarter is facing a global decline, growing unemployment, feelingof insecurity and shops closing. The public space is deteriorating, graffitiappear on the walls and shop windows are not very attractive. Only banksand financial services maintain a satisfactory appearance.
The central square is occupied by a small children’s playground, a largeopen space and a few parking spaces. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, a mar-ket is held there in the morning.
Zeglobe arts and community centre is also located on this square, but its acti-vities are too limited to have s strong impact on the attractiveness of the neigh-bourhood and the quality of life. The only other leisure activities are one swim-ming pool, two cinemas and one theatre, which has no resident company. Twosmall parks are also located in the peripheral parts of Zecourt.
10 years ago, the local commercial association used to be a driving force tosuggest actions and take part in the urban dynamism. Now, it is weakeningand essentially vindictive.
The feeling of insecurity is growing among the population, especially at nightwhen there is not enough lighting in the streets and the area seems to gointo a curfew. Some inhabitants have organised themselves into a commu-nity association to protect their peace of life in Zecourt. This associationpetitions the City Council for more public lighting and the demolition of an old unused factory which is situated near the central square. This associationis mainly composed of people who have been living in this quarter for a longtime and a lot of the most active members are retired. The association speaksin the name of all the inhabitants but is not really representative of the popu-lation, especially of the ethnic minorities’ communities.
Last year, the shopkeepers and the Chamber of Commerce have drawn theattention of the Zeville municipality to those problems. It has thereforebeen agreed that the Zecourt area would be one of the focal points of thenew urban regeneration policy promoted by the municipality.
To improve quality of life in Zecourt, it has been decided to follow to com-plementary directions:■ support retail trade by bringing in a new supermarket to pull forward allthe local shops, ■ improve the cultural life by developing the activities of Zeglobe Centre.
As a consequence of this new plan, the Chamber of Commerce has contac-ted several supermarket chains and are about to reach an agreement with“Super Duper Markets”. They are prepared to open a new supermarket inZecourt, near the central square.
To develop the cultural life, nothing has been agreed yet. A lot coulddepend on the activities of Zeglobe, which is an arts and community centrethat offers a large variety of activities for all ages including theatre, danceand art classes as well as various clubs and youth activities. Several part-nerships have been established with schools to develop activities for chil-dren during week days but a lot more could probably be done.
Population: 497 550 inhabitantsThe City Council is responsible for most of the urban and developmentpolicies. There is no decentralisation to lower tiers of government.
Population: 28 360 inhabitants32% are of foreign origin.
18% are over 65 years old.
Unemployment rate is 14,3% (above the city’s average: 8,6%).
Zecourt is mainly residential but there are approximately 100 shoppingsurfaces with the following structure: precarious shops (high occupation turnover) There also is one police station.
Several schools, public and private, cover the needs of all age groups,from 3 to 18 years old.
4 - “LOCAL SHOPKEEPERS FEARFOR THEIR FUTURE” Press cutting from the Zeville Evening News The overall decline of Zecourt does not bode well for the future and manyinhabitants are worried. They cannot afford to move to a better part of townand have seen their quality of life in Zecourt reduced. Great hopes havebeen placed in the hands of the new municipality and people are waitingfor a new policy that would take into account their concerns, not only thoseof the richer quarters of the city.
This negative mood is particularly apparent when you meet local shopkee-pers in Zecourt. Many shops have closed and those who remain fear for theirfuture: ‘Insecurity is rising in Zecourt, the overall climate is getting worse andnobody seems to be moving to help us. All this has a bad impact on trade.
People should be aware that if our shops close, our neighbourhood is goingto die.’ says Mr Zeman, a local shopkeeper.
In fact, during the past few years, several new shops have opened in Zecourt.
Most of these are run by ethnic minorities and seem to be well adapted tothe needs of the local population. With a good service and wide openinghours, these shops now play an important role in the neighbourhood’s quali-ty of life. ‘I find it really useful to have a shop open in the evening when I getback from work a little late. If I need a pack of beer or a loaf of bread, I justneed to pop out and pick it up from the corner shop.’ says M. a local inhabi-tant.
However, this cannot be considered as the sign of a new dynamism in localtrade. Many of these shops run by ethnic minorities remain precarious andthey are still not fully accepted by the other traditional shops. The shop-keeper’s association, which could defend the common interests of all, is notvery active and does not include many members of these minorities.
A lot more has certainly to be done to develop trade and quality of life inZecourt. The local shopkeepers’ warning must not be overlooked to quick-ly: things could get worse in the neighbourhood if more shops had to close.
This is why we must pay attention to their latest concern. Mr Zeman is alar-med: ‘The municipality has a new project to open a supermarket near theCentral Square. What will happen to the other local food and grocerystores? If they loose too many customers and close down, that’s the begin-ning of the end for all of us!’ Will this new struggle announce the revival of a dynamic ShopkeepersAssociation or simply their last swan song? 5 -“ZEGLOBE CENTRE FIGHTSAGAINST A GROWING FEELING OF INSECURITY” I wonder what stimulates this growing feeling of insecurity in Zecourt? I waswalking along the streets, going into coffee shops, talking to people andeveryone seems to go on about elderly people who have been mugged,about closed shops and graffiti on the walls, about the ‘invasion’ of theneighbourhood by minority groups or about kids who skip school and dealdrugs.
Instead of trying to investigate the causes of this growing fear and writingyet another article about social problems, I thought I would tell you aboutsomething positive for a change.
You have all heard of Zeglobe: the art classes, the youth activities and thegood Mr Zebig… But had you realised that Zeglobe was a formidable toolto improve social well-being and to develop bonds between different cul-tures or different age groups? Did you know that the afternoon art classes, where you expect to find abunch of old age pensioners painting flowers, have an ambitious projectwith a local school to create a joint art exhibition on the theme of ‘culturaldifferences’? Did you know that every year, in July, the kids from the Zeglobe youth clubtake part in the preparation of a huge neighbourhood event that everyoneknows as ‘Discover the world’? This is a large party that goes on throughoutthe night and where people share food, drinks and music from differentparts of the world.
Did you know that Zeglobe has a small library that can provide bilingualchildren’s books in all kind of minority languages? This could help parentsfrom ethnic minorities and their children to build a shared cultural back-ground.
Instead of talking about it and helping it to spread, maybe we could all startfighting against this feeling of insecurity. Just like Zeglobe is doing… Summary of a report by the Chamber of Commerce In the context of urban regeneration and neighbourhood renewal policies,the Chamber of Commerce has an important role to play to support tradeand shopping in these areas.
As announced by the City Council, one of the key strategies for the rene-wal of some of Zeville’s declining areas is to develop the shopping streetsto improve the global quality of life in the neighbourhood.
In Zecourt, the quality and the stability of retail shops is probably one of the keyto the renewal of the area. Before undertaking any direct action, the Chamberof Commerce has launched a retail audit to diagnosis the situation.
Executive summary of the ‘retail audit’: Key issues for Zecourt area■ Many shops are closed (27 %).
■ The evolution in the type of shops seems to suit new demand (especial-ly, growing number of shops managed by people from ethnic minorities) ■ Many shops are not profitable although the rents remain low. Some arenot adapted to the demand, others are not professionally managed.
■ The local Shopkeepers Association is not very dynamic The local situation of trade in Zecourt is not very good and, based on thisaudit, the Chamber of Commerce has identified 5 strategic guidelines foraction.
Strategic guidelinesThe Chamber of Commerce will support or undertake itself any action thatfit the following strategy: ■ To improve competitiveness of existing shops (better sales appeal, bet-ter adaptation of offer to local demand, better management) ■ To increase leisure value of shopping streets by developing the diversityof shops and the public space attractiveness. Commercial events could alsobe organised.
■ To attract a new supermarket in the area so that it plays a leading roleand pulls the other shops forward.
■ To support any entrepreneur wishing to re-open one of the closed shops ■ To improve accessibility of shopping for less mobile inhabitants (thosewithout a car, elderly or disabled people) The Chamber of Commerce invited all the local shopkeepers to a meeting inorder to present a new strategy for the development of trade in Zecourt. Thegoal was also to answer any questions, listen to suggestions from the shop-keepers and stimulate any positive initiative.
The main idea is to develop the existing shopping streets rather than creatinga new shopping centre. Any initiative that fits into the Chamber of Commerce’sguidelines (presented in the ‘retail audit’ report) will be supported.
The Chamber of Commerce has also developed a short term action plan basedupon three concrete actions:■ the arrival of a new supermarket in the neighbourhood; ■ financial support to existing shopkeepers for the renovation of their shopfronts (subsidy covering 50 % of the investment); ■ an effort to attract new small and specialised retailers to open up the closedshops (promotion of the area and consultancy to help open up a business).
The main criticisms by the local shopkeepers are focussed on the fact that newcompetition (supermarket + new shops) will damage the profitability of theirexisting shops:■ their margins will have to be reduced in order to maintain the competitive-ness of their prices ■ their opening hours will need to be longer to match competition ■ the supermarket will be more attractive and have a better image, thereforeattracting their customers The Chamber of Commerce justifies their strategy by explaining that customerswill shop in other quarters of the city or in the suburbs if the shopping streetsof Zecourt are not developed. The most efficient way to achieve this is to bring in a supermarket that will haveenough attraction power. This supermarket and the existing shops will then beable to play a complementary role in the shopping dynamics. The overall salesof the whole area will increase.
The Chamber of Commerce asserts its wish to stimulate the development ofZecourt trade. All suggestions are welcome; and any collective project that theshopkeepers can suggest will be carefully examined and could receive somesupport if it seems relevant.
8 - THE MAYOR WANTS TO GIVE ANEW BOOST TO ZECOURT” Press cutting from the Zeville Evening News You have been elected three months ago and in your program, youoften stressed the importance of a balanced development for our city.
Some areas are growing at a very fast rate but others seem to be leftbehind. What do you plan to do about this situation? Mr Zetop (Mayor of Zeville): This is exactly one of the key focuses of ourproject for Zeville. The development of our city needs to be polycentric; wecannot continue with most of our activity concentrated in the HistoricalCentre and Incourt.
We must promote other places for cultural life, economic life and social life.
Let’s take the example of Zecourt; this area has a true potential to developa good quality of life, a dynamic economy and attract new inhabitants. Thisis what our city needs and this is what the Zecourt inhabitants need. In the case of Zecourt, have you any concrete suggestions of how toreach those goals? During the past months, my team and I have worked with all the local part-ners and we have two concrete suggestions for Zecourt. First, we will sup-port the development of the Zeglobe Centre to promote a more active cul-tural life. I have personally asked the Mr Zebig, the manger, to preparesome suggestions and we will discuss them with our local partners soonnext week. Secondly, we will try to attract a new supermarket to create anew shopping dynamism in the area. I have been working closely with theChamber of Commerce and there is a good chance that Super DuperMarket will open a shop next year. But these are only the first steps.
You seem to have very precise ideas of how to develop our city, butsome of your partners seem more reluctant? Are you not trying toimpose some decisions on them without taking their opinion intoaccount? The shopkeepers association, for example, seems to reject theidea of a new supermarket. We are acting very openly and we want to work on this project togetherwith all the stakeholders. This is why I have appointed a project manager inZecourt responsible for working with our partners and the local community.
We will of course discuss this issue with the shopkeepers and show them allthe advantages of our project but we will also listen to their suggestionsand try to build something together.
When will this strategy show its first results? How will you measure yoursuccess? This strategy should give a new boost to Zecourt, even if we can’t changeeverything by next year. Our priority is to develop three our four concreteinitiatives, in addition to the two projects I talked about earlier, by the endof this year. The first results should come a year or two after that. The qua-lity of life for the inhabitants of Zecourt will really be improved and thisquarter should even attract visitors and shoppers from other parts of thecity. The second positive outcome of this new dynamism is obviously thatjobs will be created. For example, we will make sure that the new super-market recruits his staff locally.
9 - A NEW PROJECT FOR THEZEGLOBE CENTRE” Summary of a report by Mr Zebig, manager of the Zeglobe Centre This report is a first answer to the mayor’s request for a new project inZecourt. It offers two suggestions to contribute to the neighbourhood rene-wal project led by the municipality.
Developing the current activities of Zeglobe The community centre offers a wide range of activities:■ Art classes ■ Youth activities after school and at week ends ■ And every year there is a new community project All these activities have been designed to respect the founding principlesof Zeglobe which are to favour a mix of cultures and a mix of age groups.
Zeglobe is mainly public funded and the City Council is the main contribu-tor. However, the subsidies have not been increased for the past 5 yearsand therefore the existing activities have not been developed any further.
With a larger budget, the space (new building, a large hall for 300 peopleand many smaller rooms) could be better used. Some more clubs or classescould be opened and the hall could host more conferences and shows.
The second suggestion would be to open up Zeglobe and to reach morepeople from the neighbourhood and the whole city. The idea is to createtwo or three major cultural event in the streets of Zeglobe to celebratesome of the traditional festivities of different cultures (local and foreign).
The goal would be to develop these events with the local inhabitants andinvolve them deeply in the preparation, in the shows and in the parades.
The community centre could coordinate this project, which would be opento other partners.
10 - THE ARRIVAL OF A NEW SUPER-MARKET IN ZECOURT The Chamber of Commerce has contacted several chains of supermarketsto present them with an opportunity to open a store in Zecourt.
There are no supermarkets in this area and the municipality wishes to deve-lop a new shopping dynamism. A unique site is available near the centralsquare, in the place of an old factory. The land already belongs to the muni-cipality (1 800 sq. m.).
The most interesting project was that of the owners of Super Duper Market.
Their position can be summed up in the following way:■ They agree to open a new store (1 200 sq. m.) in Zecourt because theybelieve there is a potential market of local residents which is not satisfiedproperly.
■The store could be located in the place of the old factory and the munici-pality would finance the destruction of the old buildings. This destructionwould also allow an underground car park to be built beneath the super-market for at least 100 cars on two levels (2 X 50).
■ It could open within a year and a half if everything works out alright.
■ They believe their new store will not endanger the local shops becausethey will not offer the same type of products.
■ They suggest the city and the chamber of commerce should try to attractother important stores in the area and create a shopping dynamism.
■ They want to organise a commercial event to promote the opening oftheir new store. They would welcome the support of the Chamber ofCommerce for this as part of their effort to improve the image of Zecourtshopping streets.
11 - REQUEST BY THE ZECOURTSHOPKEEPERS ASSOCIATION Letter by the Zecourt Shopkeepers Association to the Deputy Mayor incharge of Economic Development and the Chamber of Commerce.
Following the recent presentation of the new strategy for the renewal, weorganised a meeting with all the members of our association to discuss yourproposals.
We strongly support your project to develop trade in Zecourt, however, weunanimously think that the city should invest in our small businesses ratherthan in a new supermarket. Small shops are better for the quality of life inthe neighbourhood and we believe that with your support, we can revivethe shopping streets as they were some 15 years ago.
Our suggestions are that:- We can expand the activities of our association to promote our shopsmore efficiently. We plan to organise some commercial events in our streetstwice a year with the help of the Chamber of Commerce.
- The City Council should offer subsidies to improve shop windows and theoverall outside aspect of our local shops.
- The city should invest to improve the street environment and the publicspace. The central square could be renewed.
- The neighbourhood needs at least 100 more parking spaces for our cus-tomers. The central square could be renewed to offer more parking spaces.
- The overall security of the neighbourhood should be improved; policepatrols should be more frequent.
We wish to arrange a meeting with you to discuss our suggestions and buildtogether a strong project for the development of trade in Zecourt.
12 - MEETING WITH ZECOURT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION As a first step towards an increased citizen participation in the project forZecourt, a meeting has been arranged with the local CommunityAssociation.
The global strategy for neighbourhood renewal was presented to the inha-bitants and the debate was opened.
Most of the participants were very pleased to take part in the process,although some remarks were raised about the actual scope of citizen’s par-ticipation.
The meeting was also the occasion to listen to the questions and sugges-tions of the inhabitants.
The first concern of the Community Association has to do with insecurity.
They believe the closed shops and the dilapidating buildings contribute tothis feeling of insecurity and the City Council should launch some renova-tion programs.
Something should be done with the old factory. They suggest that somepublic services could be set up there in some new buildings: a new postoffice, decentralised offices of the City Council, health services, etc.
Finally, they have many questions about the shopping streets renewalpolicy. They think it is a very good idea to develop local shops but are wor-ried about the project of a new supermarket. Will some of their small shopsclose down? Where will it be located? A lot of other very practical questions were raised by the inhabitants aboutwaste disposal, school lunches, swimming pool opening hours, etc. Theseitems were all transferred to the relevant department.
13 - THE POLICE: “WE WANT TOFIGHT SMALL CRIME” New Year Speech by the Chief of the Zecourt Police Department Mayor Zetop, members of the Zeville Council, my police colleagues, and myfellow Zecourt citizens.
I am deeply appreciative of your confidence and support you gave us duringthe past year. I truly look forward to leading the talented men and women ofthis Police Department for yet another year. Our duty is be simple: come towork every day striving to make Zecourt a safer place. And we will see results.
The most recent statistics show that ‘small crime’ is rising in Zecourt and itnow stands at 25% above city average. This small crime causes a feeling ofinsecurity in our communities and it is our role to act together and fightagainst its various causes. I have identified three:First, many drug-users have recently moved from the Historical City Centre toZecourt, mainly around the old factory. We have to find a solution to this pro-blem without transferring it again to another part of town.
Secondly, more and more young people gather in groups and hang aroundthe Zecourt central square during school hours or at night. During the dayti-me no one feels this is an issue, but at night, many people fear their attitude.
I believe we have to deal with this issue globally and work with the schools,the families and maybe the Zeglobe Centre to offer a real alternative to theseyoungsters. We should also probably ban the access to the old factory toavoid any accidents.
Finally, I believe that the traditional role patterns in families are changing.
Parents feel less responsible for what their children do and have less controlon their activities. I am sure an important element of this problem is the dif-ferent attitude of parents of ethnic minority groups towards their children. Weneed to offer support to those families that have such difficulties and helpthem to create better dialogue with their children.
To truly make a difference and avoid the development of these issues intomajor crime problems, our police department must form strong partnershipswith the citizens it serves, with the schools, the shopkeepers and all the busi-nesses of our neighbourhood. I pledge to you today that the men andwomen of this department will be working harder than ever before to gainyour support and trust. Together, I am sure we will achieve extraordinary suc-cesses in Zecourt.
I am very proud to be leading a department of dedicated officers and pro-fessional staff. I am sure the men and women of this police force want to bethe best there is and I have developed a new reward scheme to encouragetheir efforts to curb the crime statistics. We can make a difference every dayand we will make a difference every day. But it will not be done alone. It willbe done with our communities and partners.
I am very excited and energized knowing we're going to work together foranother year and I am sure we are about to make a big difference in Zecourt.
Thank you all and happy New Year.
14 - “THE SCHOOL DIRECTOR ASKSFOR HELP” Press cutting from the Zeville evening news In the Zecourt secondary schools the truancy rate could reach 15%!Although this figure cannot be precisely confirmed by the schools or thepublic authorities, it has certainly raised the alarm.
The Director of one of the Zecourt Public Schools has launched an appealand wishes to find concrete solutions to this problem with all his partners.
In the last edition of his School Journal, the Director seeks the support ofthe parents to work together with the schools to prevent further truancy andrestore the educational climate in Zecourt. ‘We mustn’t rely on police actionto solve this type of problem; I would prefer to work with our other socialpartners to design some innovative solutions. Why not imagine involvingour pupils in concrete projects that are being launched in the Zecourt area?Why not work together with Zeglobe to create some new links between theschool and the community centre?’ 15 - “THE CHAIRMAN OF THE HISTORICSOCIETY IS IN FAVOUR OF A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICYFOR ZECOURT” The ‘Zecourt Historic Society’ has always played an important role in main-taining the historic sites, city views and buildings in Zecourt. Today, theyseem quite worried by some parts of the municipality’s renewal project.
They agree with the necessity of an economic revival, but attract our atten-tion to the consequences this revival may have on typical Zecourt buildings,such as the old factory or the central square. Their Chairman, the former cityarcheologist, recommends:‘I believe we can keep the building of the old factory and find a way of inte-grating the new Super Duper Market in the old walls. In the same way, wemust avoid crowding the central square with cars and could build an under-ground car-park below its surface (it is possible to build a 2 level under-ground car park with 120 parking spaces on each level). In that way we cansave the typical setting of this square.’This idea of an underground car-park would certainly suit many of the otherinhabitants. Some appreciate the square as an attractive place for childrento play, for tourists and inhabitants to browse about. A well-guarded car-park is also a good way of reducing the number of car thefts or vandalism.
Finally, by keeping the central square free from cars, it can easily be usedat any time for festivals or other cultural events.
Most cities throughout the country pay more and more attention to sustai-nable development policies, some even prepare a local agenda 21. Thechairman of the Zecourt Historic Society wishes that Zeville also takes actionin that direction: ‘All the recent plans for Zecourt could be included into anoverall sustainable development policy: the new supermarket, the projectsfor the central square, the work on the old factory, the efforts towards socialwellbeing… Many things are going to change in Zecourt and we mustn’tforget to integrate the social and economic issues with all the environmentissues. We must ask ourselves, how can we reduce the use of cars, how canwe have environmentally friendly buildings, how can we get the inhabitantsinterested in environment issues? All the partners of the project in Zecourtmust be aware of this sustainable perspective.’ Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon MalmöMunich Utrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest BrnoGenoa the Hague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht V Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapes t 2: no Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö Munich Hague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Munich Utrecht Venice Vienna BelfastBirmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö MunichUtrecht Venice Vienna Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the Hague Lyon Malmö Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa theHague Lyon Malmö Belfast Birmingham Budapest Brno Genoa the ROLE CARD 1: ZEGLOBE CENTREREPRESENTATIVE A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the project You have been elected recently and wish to give strong political supportto the implementation of one of your key projects for the city: combiningtrade and cultural initiatives for the renewal of Zecourt.
Priority 1Gain strong support from the local community (inhabitants and shopkee-pers) and develop a positive image.
Priority 2Get some building work started within a year and some projects finishedwithin 3 years.
Constraint 1To gain a sufficient majority in the vote of the city’s budget, priority will haveto go to investments in economic projects rather than in cultural projects Constraint 2 The City cannot give any direct subsidy to individual businesses (supermar-ket or individual shops).
Information only you possessYou have a contact with a discount supermarket chain, which could also beinterested by the project and could replace Super Duper Market. Howeverthis would not get the support of the Chamber of Commerce as they do notwish to encourage this kind of trade in Zeville.
A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectYou are the project manager responsible for adapting the overall urbanregeneration strategy to this area, promoting local partnerships andincreasing community involvement. You must start work immediatelyand, within a year, you must launch some tangible projects to prove astrong commitment of the City for this area. Local elections will takeplace in three years time and the councillor responsible for urban rege-neration programs needs some results to show.
Priority 1Build a COLLECTIVE project and action plan (with the relevant partners) forZecourt.
Priority 2Help the mayor (or deputy mayor) to make the ‘good’ decisions.
Priority 3Design a project which serves the interests of the Zecourt inhabitants.
Constraint 1 The municipality has allocated a budget towards the renewall of Zecourtthat can cover investments in two large development projects (under-ground car park for 100 cars, rehabilitating or demolition of the old factory,major landscaping of the central square, or other large projects). It can alsofinance two lighter projects (video surveillance system, public lighting,urban furniture, cultural event, communication campaign, or other smallprojects).
Constraint 2 Within three months, you must have launched some form of citizen partici-pation process in Zecourt.
ROLE CARD 3: CHAMBER OF COMMERCE REPRESENTATIVE A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectYou took an important part in the definition of the new mayor’s projectfor urban regeneration in Zeville. You have suggested the idea that thedevelopment of trade in the more deprived areas can benefit the wholeneighbourhood.
Priority 1Opening up of a Super Duper Market in Zecourt.
Priority 2Help the local shopkeepers to manage their businesses in a more profitableway.
Priority 3Influence the municipality so that they improve the public space to increa-se the feeling of safety for the inhabitants (especially in the shoppingstreets).
Constraint 1 Create a positive dynamism for trade in Zecourt without creating a newshopping pole that would unbalance the trade situation in the whole city ofZeville.
Constraint 2 The Chamber of Commerce does not have any budget for investments inthe neighbourhood. They can only finance training or consulting schemes.
Information only you possessThe subsidies you can offer to shopkeepers for the renovation of shop frontscome from the state. They will only be available for one more year. ROLE CARD 4: ZEGLOBE CENTREREPRESENTATIVE A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectYou wish to take advantage of the neighbourhood renewall project topromote the activities of Zeglobe. You are very willing to be involved inany partnership that aims to improve the quality of life in Zecourt Priority 1Develop the activities of Zeglobe and attract more people.
Priority 3Promote the activities of Zeglobe to inhabitants of other neighbourhoodsand thereby contribute to opening up Zecourt to the rest of the city.
Priority 3Contribute to building a COLLECTIVE project and action plan (with thelocal partners) for Zecourt.
Constraint 1 The municipality, which is your main source of funds, requests that youincrease the share of self-financing or private financing in your budget fornext year.
Information only you possessYou have recently had fruitful contacts with the manager of Super DuperMarkets. He seemed quite interested in financing part of a large culturalevent in Zecourt, when his new store opens.
ROLE CARD 5: LOCAL SHOPKEEPERSASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVE A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectIn the past few months, the shopkeepers association has managed toattract the attention of the municipality to the many problems facingZecourt. As a consequence, the mayor has decided to launch a largescale renewal project in the neighbourhood. Many of the local stakehol-ders have a bad image of your association, which is seen as vindictiveand without any real dynamism but you wish to prove that this project forZecourt needs your support to be successful. Priority 1Gain as much support as possible from the municipality and the Chamberof Commerce for the existing shops in Zecourt.
Priority 2Avoid the opening up of a new supermarket in the area.
Priority 3Increase the security and safety ot the shopping streets in order to impro-ve the quality of life in the neighbourhood and the attractivity of the shops.
Constraint 1 The association has hardly any budget and the members have little time totake part in partnership working.
Constraint 2Most of the members of the association will only get involved in activitieswhich can directly increase their sales.
Information only you possessYour association has recently decided to open up to shopkeepers of ethnicminorities. A meeting has been organised with about 15 such shopkeepersto discuss common problems facing all the shops of the neighbourhood.
The meeting was fruitful and the discussions very open although it did notlead directly to any new memberships for the association.
ROLE CARD 6: SUPER DUPER MARKET REPRESENTATIVE A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectYour chain of supermakets has some experience in opening up mediumsize stores in declining quarters of major cities throughout the country.
The Chamber of Commerce of Zeville has offered you an interestingopportunity to open a 1 400 sq. m. store in Zecourt. You are prepared todiscuss this project with the different stakeholders.
Priority 1Open a new store in the centre of Zecourt next year.
Priority 2Obtain a commitment of the City Council and the Chamber of Commercethat they will promote shopping in Zecourt and attract other importantstores in the neighbourhood.
Priority 3Promote the opening of your new store by taking part in local culturalevents.
Constraint 1 The municipality, which is your main source of funds, requests that youincrease the share of self-financing or private financing in your budget fornext year.
Constraint 2 The land must be available and ready within 6 months so that the new storecan be built rapidly.
Information only you possessYou have recently had good contacts with the manager of Zeglobe and havediscussed a possible partnership with this cultural centre in Zecourt. Thisshould give your store a good image amongst the local inhabitants. ROLE CARD 7: COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVE A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectThe Community Association is very concerned by the situation in Zecourtand wishes to protect the interests of the inhabitants in any project thatmight be decided for their neighbourhood.
Priority 1Improve the safety and the security in the streets of Zecourt. Demolish theold factory, which is a dangerous place.
Priority 2Represent the community and take a more active role at all stages of theurban renewal projects.
Priority 3Improve the overall quality of life in Zecourt with better streets, more smallshops, better public services, better parks, etc. Constraint 1 The Community Association has no financial resources but many membersare prepared to be stongly involved in the new project of the municipality.
Constraint 2 The Community Association does not represent the whole population ofZecourt because there are hardly any members coming of ethnic communi-ties. Some city stakeholders tend to doubt your legitimacy.
Information only you possessYou have heard about some talks between Zeglobe Centre and a new super-market that might open up in Zecourt to form some kind of alliance. Youbelieve the community that you represent would disapprove of such analliance between their local cultural centre and a large profit oriented busi-ness. The supermarket is sure to spoil the original mission of Zeglobe infavour of the local inhabitants.
ROLE CARD 8: POLICE OFFICER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ZECOURT AREA A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectSecurity in Zecourt is an important issue in the neighbourhood renewallproject. Inhabitants and shopeepers feel very concerned. Therefore, themayor has invited you to take part in the project to bring your ideas andcontributions.
Priority 1Work with other partners (schools, business, families, city council, etc.) torestore a feeling of safety and security in Zecourt.
Priority 2Monitor the crime rate in Zecourt in order to get a proper evaluation of allthe actions that are taken.
Priority 3Avoid shifting the problems of Zecourt to other parts of town.
Constraint 1The number of police officers cannot be increased in Zecourt for financialreasons, and their workload is already quite high. Only a small amount oftheir traditional patrolling time can be spared and transferred to other tasks.
Information only you possessThe Zecourt quarter could benefit from special funding by the state as partof a new scheeme designed to deal with security problems in an innovativeway. Such a ‘Safer Neighbourhood’ project could benefit Zecourt. Somefunding could be obtained for experimental initiatives for safety. The maincondition is that the projects must be multi-partners (schools, associations,etc.).
ROLE CARD 9: RESPONSIBLE FORSCHOOLS IN ZECOURT A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectThe educational climate in Zecourt is getting more and more difficult.
You seek support from other local partners and are therefore interestedin the general discussions about the renewal of your neighbourhood.
Priority 1Gain support from the Zeglobe centre, the municipality and other partnersto work with the schools on a project for next year.
Priority 2Avoid a too strong involvement of the police in school affairs.
Priority 3Rapidly involve children in small scale cultural projects linked to the life inZecourt.
Constraint 1The Zecourt schools have no money to spend on new school projects forthis year.
Constraint 2You prefer to avoid taking the children outside the school boundariesduring school hours, for security reasons.
Information only you possessYou can work with your team to design new school projects for next year. Agood project with local partners could help you obtain additional subsidiesfrom the state for innovative educational projects.
ROLE CARD 10: REPRESENTATIVE OFTHE ZECOURT HISTORIC SOCIETY A new project manager has been appointed by the City Council of Zeville.
He/she is in charge of the neighbourhood renewal project in Zecourt.
He/she has organised a first strategic meeting and has invited representa-tives of all the involved stakeholders. The goal of this first meeting is todecide on some orientations for the new project and set up a first work plan.
Reason for taking part in the projectYou are very attached to your neighbourhood and feel you have animportant role to play to protect the interests of Zecourt in the renewalprojects.
Priority 1Promote a sustainable development policy for Zecourt.
Priority 2Avoid the destruction of the old factory.
Priority 3Attract more visitors and tourists to the historic sites in Zecourt.
Constraint 1The Historic Society has no budget but many of its members have skills inthe field of architecture and urban landscaping.
Constraint 2The Historic Society gets most of its funding for historic research from themunicipality. Therefore it is difficult to strongly oppose all the municipality’sprojects for Zecourt… Information only you possessYou know that the municipality is planning to develop new historical citytours and events to attract tourists in Zeville. Those projects are mainly focus-sed on the city centre but you have discussed with the project manager andsome opportunities for Zecourt could be examined.
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However, in those different situations, a facilitator will be needed toconduct the discussion. This guide is a tool for the facilitator to prepare thesession and liven up the discussions. It can be used in relation with theother products of the Interact Kit, the Fieldbook and the Manager’sToolbox.
The focus of this case is partnership working in a large urban project.
Therefore the case setting has been based upon real situations analysedduring the INTERACT project. However, it has been adapted and speciallydesigned to highlight certain issues and allow for interesting discussions.
A set of documents describes the situation of an urban renewal projectin the imaginary city of Zeville. The administrative and political context hasnot been developed so that the described situation can easily be located inmost European cities. You should feel free to add some contextual detailsif necessary although the present setting has already proven its playabilityin many contexts. You will also notice that very little financial data havebeen included to make the case more accessible and easy to use withoutto much preparation. However, you can expand the present material settingof the case in that direction if you wish, or to add any other elements thatyou find relevant.
To complement these documents, a role play scenario has been designedto let the participants play different roles in the project. For example, onewill be project manager, another will represent the Chamber of Commerce,and another will be president of a Community association, and so on. Thescenario allows for many discussions and interactions to take place betweenthe participants, who must work together on the project while keeping inmind their own individual interests. You will find role cards which describeeach role and set personal priorities and constraints for each participant.
To sum up, this role play case is very useful for developing a new and effi-cient type of learning: Learning with the role play / case method 2 - USE THIS ROLE PLAY CASE:BASIC PRINCIPLES Whether you are a professional trainer or acting as a facilitator with a group,feel free to use this role play case in whatever way suits you best; you caneven make some adjustments to it yourself. This guide will simply give youa few guidelines to make your work as a trainer/facilitator easier, based onour own experience with the product.
The following steps present the basic principles of how to use the role playcase with a group of 10 to 12 participants.
Start by discussing with the group the learning goals and explaining therole play approach.
Step 2: discovering the context of the case You can make a brief presentation of the situation in the City of Zeville andthe urban renewal project. All the participants must be given some time toread and individually analyse the setting documents.
Then you should assign to each participant the role of one of the key sta-keholders in the project. Hand out a role card to each of them and ask themto prepare their roles.
This is the central step of the session. The person playing the role of theproject manager arranges a formal meeting gathering all the stakeholdersto launch the project. During this meeting, the participants play their assi-gned role and must work together, decide on common orientations anddesign a preliminary action plan for the project.
After the role playing, you should organise a discussion to analyse all toge-ther the role play session. You can for example focus on the negotiations,the leadership and the partnership building process. Try to pinpoint whatcan be learnt from this experience for the participants’ real life situations.
During the role play meeting, the facilitator should mainly act as an obser-ver but afterwards, during the group discussion, he/she should stimulatethe debates and guide the learning process.
As a facilitator, you can use the Interact Fiedlbook to focus on some of thekey issues of urban project management. Each chapter includes many ques-tions to raise and suggestions you can make to the participants.
This role play case study has been designed to work with a group of 10 par-ticipants and a facilitator. The 10 participants can each play one of the rolesfrom the scenario as described in the role cards.
The case deals with the implementation of urban projects and policies soanybody interested by such issues can take part. For instance, the partici-pants can be urban project managers, project team members, line mana-gers of a local authority, various stakeholders (public or private) of an urbanproject, students in urban management, etc. It is not important whether theparticipants know each other prior to the session or not but the session willbe even more fruitful if they come from various backgrounds and have dif-ferent experiences.
If your group is smaller than 10, you can choose to leave some of the rolesaside. If you have to do so you should at least keep the project manager, the deputy mayor, the supermarket, the chamber of commerce, the shop-keepers, the community association and the Zeglobe centre.
If your group is larger than 10, you can either ask two participants to playrepresentatives of the same stakeholder or you can assign some of the par-ticipants to be observers (see § 7.2.).
It is very important that you define clear learning goals for the participantsof the session. They can be discussed with the participants. This will helpthe facilitator to focus his/her observation during the role playing and guidethe debriefing (see § 6.).
3.3. How can this role play be integrated within an exis-ting training program? You can design a whole training program around the role play session.
With less experienced participants you might wish to start the program withsome basic training on project management. The participants would thenbe expected to apply some of the concepts in the role play. The debriefingcan start with a debate on the difficulties and complexities of real partner-ship working, compared to theoretical recommendations.
With more experienced participants, the role play session can be used toopen the programme, bringing all the group together and focussing on acommon project (especially useful if all the participants work on differentprojects and do not know each other). The trainer can build on this groupwork, let everyone bring in their own experience and guide the discussionto analyse in depth some complex management issues.
The Interact Fieldbook can help you chose some topics to cover and sug-gest some questions that can be raised with the group.
The Interact Managers Toolbox suggests some practical methods to impro-ve team work on the project.
You can also include some readings and explanations based on traditionalproject management methodologies and illustrate your comments with reallife examples coming from the Interact case studies.(cf. CD.Rom) 3.4. What topics do you want to deal with? The scenario as it is covers many different topics of urban management andstrategies. If you want the discussions to focus on other issues, you cancreate some new role cards for different types of stakeholders (other muni-cipality departments, social workers, health services, housing organisations,etc.), or you can add some elements to the setting. You can also count onthe participants to bring up all kinds of issues during the role play, based ontheir experience or their analysis. Let them express their creativity duringthe role play and pick up on those ideas for the final discussion.
The ideal timing for this learning session would go as follows: This can be also done before the session by of the case the participants.
The participants should be given some time to prepare their role and their strategy for the meeting (individually or in pairs if several participants play the same role).
A coffee break or a lunch brake can be use ful, especially if you want to favour informal discussions between the stakeholders of the project, prior to the formal meeting.
A 3-4 hour meeting is a good length for the group to set priorities and design a first action plan.
You can let the group make arrangements for the setting of the meeting and the duration of their breaks.
A second session with an extra 2 hours could allow the group to go into more details.
It is very helpful to have a break between role playing and debriefing: a coffee break, a lunch brake, a day or more.
You can even ask the participants to prepare individually an analysis of the role play during the break.
2-3 hours with the group is a minimum to Debriefing develop a good learning process, based on the role playing experience.
If you want to go more in depth with the learning an entire program can be designed for 2-3 days.
Individual debriefing/coaching can also be added.
3.6. Where can you organise the training session? The training sessions requires all the participants to be able to discuss freelywith each other during the role play so your main need will be a large enoughroom with a circular table that seats all the participants. The facilitator and theobservers can sit or stand separately in the same room. For the debriefing, you need to include in the circle of participants the facilita-tor and the observers so that they can take part and contribute to the debate.
If available, you can also prepare a separate room for the breaks and informaldiscussions between the participants.
The role play session starts after you have handed out the role cards to eachparticipant and you have made sure that they have fully understood thepurpose of the session, the setting of the case and their roles.
From then on the participants are free to organise their meeting as theywish, with the project manager in charge.
Once the role playing has started, we strongly recommend that the partici-pants shift from their real life position to their new role and really play thepart. The session will be much more enjoyable and efficient if everybodyforgets about the training session and concentrates on their meeting withsome partners in the City of Zeville. Don’t let the participants interrupt thediscussion to ask “Is my character allowed to do that?”, or “I am not sure Iunderstand what my role card says”, etc. They must improvise and do theirbest to act in a realistic way. Only the facilitator can intervene if somethingreally goes astray.
A good practical tip to help participants to really shift from their real lifeposition into a role: After the introduction of the training session, ask themto leave the room with all their belongings and re-enter the room when theyare ready to take part in a meeting for the renewal of Zecourt, playing theirnew role in this project.
4.2. Help the participants build a background for their role If you want the participants to feel at ease when they are playing their roles,it is important that you help them to prepare a realistic background for theircharacter. This is especially true if they are not very familiar with this urbancontext and the type of stakeholders that are involved.
Each participant can be asked to make a brief presentation to the group ofthe character he/she will be playing. Some personal research and a littleimagination will help him/her to describe the character:■ What is my professional background? ■ What are the general goals of my organisation? How does it work? Howmany personnel? Etc.
■ What are my responsibilities in this organisation? ■ What general opinions have I already made public? To create some more background for the role playing, you can also arran-ge some informal discussions between the participants before the formalmeeting. In that way, they can exchange their views on the Zecourt project,start discussing strategies and building alliances. For example, you canarrange for these discussions to take place during a coffee break.
4.3. If the participants don’t know how to start the meeting During the individual preparation of the role play, you should remind theperson playing the role of the project manager that he/she is responsiblefor the meeting.
He/she has invited the other stakeholders to a first meeting on the Zecourtproject so he/she should open the meeting (or ask the Deputy Mayor to doso), present the agenda (including the time deadline) and suggest a wor-king method.
You must keep in mind that it is not the facilitator’s role to open the mee-ting but that of the project manager. If the participants don’t know how tostart, you should confront the project manager with his responsibilities.
4.5. If participants ask for more information concerningthe project During the preparation or during the role play the participants can some-times ask for more data to make their decisions. You should distinguish theirrequests for advice from their requests for data.
If they are seeking for advice from you about what action they should take,you must always tell them to make their own choices and decisions. You willdiscuss these together after the role play.
If they ask for extra data about the project, you have two options. You canimprovise and give them extra information on the spot, and take note of thatfor future sessions. Or you can simply tell them that, as in real life, they do nothave that information available immediately. You can therefore suggest thateither they can make a decision without all the information, or they can deci-de to postpone the decision until further studies have been made.
If the preparation was good, once the role play has started the general advi-ce we can give you is to let things happen, don’t intervene but take goodnotes of your observations. If you feel you have to intervene, it is better ifyou do so discretely: the ‘deus ex machina’ should not be made visible andthe best way is probably to prompt an individual participant by handing hima secret note or whispering a few words to him.
You can remind one of the partners about his personal goals which are over-looked by the group.
For example, to the representative of the shopkeepers association: “Whatwill your colleagues say if you let this supermarket open in Zecourt! Youreally ought to seek some good compensation.” It is not your role to put an end to the meeting but you can remind the pro-ject manager that time is running short and that he is responsible for theagenda.
5.3. If one participant is not very active or does not playhis part If this really risks spoiling the game for the other participants, you can takethis participant apart and give him/her some advice about how he/sheshould act.
It is very important that the role play is followed up by a debriefing discus-sion with the participants. For it to be the most fruitful, it is advisable thatthe participants have some form of break between the role play and thisdiscussion to gain some hindsight.
During this discussion, the facilitator or trainer should be there to stimulatelearning, based on the outcome of the role play but also on the processitself. Learning will mainly come from the interactions between the partici-pants, each bringing his own experience, his own analysis of the role playand his own questions. Compared with traditional training where the parti-cipants learn from the trainer, with this form of training, participants learnfrom each other and from themselves.
Finally, to make the learning more efficient, it is good to have set some lear-ning goals to start with so that the discussions can be more focussed (see§ 3.2.).
The role play can be focussed on group learning. The debriefing can covertopics such as how the group worked as a team, how collective decisionswere made, what did the different team members learn about each other,and how enjoyable the session was! 6.3. How can each individual participant learn? Each participant will also learn a lot for himself/herself. Participants canlearn about behaviours and management (negotiation, conflict manage-ment, leadership, consensus building, etc.), they can also learn about themain issues of urban strategies (citizen participation, partnerships, integra-ted strategies, sustainable development, etc.) and maybe they can evengather a few practical ideas and tips for their everyday work.
All this learning can either come from the analysis of the role play itself, orfrom the different real life experiences of the other participants. The facili-tator should therefore help the group to build a common analysis of the roleplay sessions but can also encourage people to tell the group about theirown experience in relation with the covered topics.
Each observer should be asked to focus on a specific observation goals:■ To analyse the partnership building ■ To analyse the negotiating and decision making process… The following ‘observation tables’ can be used as guidelines for this activity.
the partners? individual goals? do they bring Analyse the leadershipWho are the At what time do What new ideas How do they Who do they leadership Analyse the decision making process and the negotiationsWhat imposed, by collectively, what this decision, and who and how? was the process? what do they win? As an option, the observers can play the role of the press in Zeville. Duringthe session, they can be asked to produce an article describing their analy-sis of the ongoing events. See how the other players react! 7.2. Try a case study approach instead of role playing The Zeville setting can also be used in for a case study approach. All theparticipants, as a project team, analyse the information about the project;they are asked to give recommendations to the project manager. A debatecan then take place focussing on different analysis of the situation and dif-ferent recommendations.

Source: http://www.eaue.de/metropolis/INTERACT-training_ENG.pdf