New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Reconnecting with nature

Email user
hans.stoops@imba-europe.com

Basic information
Initiative title
The DIRTT project

Full initiative Title
Developing Intereuropean Resources for Trail builder Training

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
The popularity of mountain biking is booming across the world, amplifying the need for more trails and skilled trail builders to plan, design, construct and maintain sustainable trail infrastructure across Europe. This was the impetus for the Developing Intereuropean Resources for Trail builder Training project, started by IMBA Europe and an international project group representing both volunteer and professional trail builders, education providers, municipalities and tourist destinations.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
Cross-border/international

Where was your intiative implemented?
Location 1
Portugal

Location 2
Denmark
Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
- Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries: Netherlands
If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
Agueda, Portugal

Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly rural

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
Yes

Which fund(s)?
ERASMUS

Here you can provide more details about the name of the specific programme, strand/action line as relevant, and the year
Erasmus+ 2019

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project)
- Name of the organisation(s): IMBA Europe
  Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation
  First name of representative: Mark
  Last name of representative: Torsius
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Netherlands
  Function: General Manager
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Deventerweg 2A
  Town: Harderwijk
  Postal code: 3843 GD
  Country: Netherlands
  Direct Tel: +31 6 41482076
  E-mail: mark.torsius@imba-europe.com
  Website: https://www.imba-europe.org
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.facebook.com/IMBA.Europe
- URL: https://twitter.com/IMBA_Europe
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/imba_europe/
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
The DIRTT project (Developing Inter European Resources for Trail building Training) springs from the core of Europe’s mountain bike enthusiasts, volunteers, and professionals centered around the European branch of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA Europe). The aim is to develop an educational framework and professional training program for people active in the trail building sector, addressing the needs of professionals and volunteers in the field of of planning, design, construction, maintenance and management of mountain bike trails.

PARTNER ORGANISATIONS

The partners in the project are from a number of backgrounds including advocacy organisations, sports associations, governmental- and educational institutions, tourism, as well as private enterprises in the MTB trail building sector. The countries involved are Switzerland, Portugal, Scotland, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. The three-year project is coordinated by lead applicant Fagskolen Tinius Olsen, a college of higher vocational education in Norway. The project has been granted €387,731 through the European Union’s ERASMUS+ programme. The three year project aims to develop an educational framework and a professional training program for mountain bike trail builders.

Fagskolen Tinius Olsen – Norway
International Mountain Bike Association Europe – Netherlands
Scottish Cyclists Union / DMBinS – Scotland
Edinburgh Napier University – Scotland
BikePlan – Switzerland
DGI Outdoor – Denmark
Município de Águeda – Portugal
Opplysningskontoret for Terrengsykling – Norway

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
training

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
trails

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
sustainability

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
partnership

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
inspiration

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
All forms of human recreation in nature risk negatively affecting natural environments through erosion and wildlife disturbance. By correctly planning and developing trails and other infrastructure to minimise erosion risks and the possibility of conflict between stakeholders, land managers can ensure that visitors can enjoy nature in a responsible and sustainable manner.
The trailbuilding community will benefit from the input of resources made available in the DIRTT project, which will help them in planning and building sustainable recreational infrastructure to allow visitors to enjoy the natural environment to the fullest, while leaving a minimal impact on sensitive natural ecosystems, in harmony with other trail users and stakeholders. Responsible planning and construction of trails will help ensure the physical sustainability of the natural environments in which people enjoy mountain biking while simultaneously ensuring social sustainability by minimising the risk for conflicts and addressing the interests of all users, and the economic sustainability of the communities of communities near trail facilities.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
The DIRTT project has developed training material to help trailbuilders to read the landscape and plan and construct trails that complement the natural terrain, to provide visitors with an unforgettable natural experience. Sustainable trails that respect the contours of the landscape have a natural flow that provide both a positive visitor experience, allowing for appreciation of the beauty of nature and also can be beautiful objects in themselves, as they twist and turn through the landscape, inspiring a sense of adventure and wanderlust.
A well designed trail should appear as a natural feature of the environment, belying the planning and effort that was involved in its creation. Beautiful trails can attract visitors from thousands of kilometers away, who seek the unique experience a trail offers around every bend and over the crest of every hill. The building techniques taught as a result of the DIRTT project will result in trails that maintain their beauty season after season, and will allow countless visitors the opportunity to seek challenges and revel in the unique natural environments in which they are built.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Responsibly designed trails need to address the needs of all user groups, particularly the most vulnerable and inexperienced users. A well-designed and executed trail network should lower barriers to entry for a new activity, encouraging a broad spectrum of potential users. These are the principles upon which the DIRTT project was founded, as indicated by our stakeholder analysis and the needs of the communities building trails today.
What is more, the DIRTT project has intentionally developed resources that can be used to train a wide variety of trail builders, from those with professional aspirations to inexperienced volunteers. By engaging with volunteers, those using the DIRTT training methods can help enthusiastic trail users to positively affect their recreational environments, and develop a stronger relationship with their local ecosystems.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
One of the first initiatives of the DIRTT project was undertaking a pair of surveys, seeking input from both the mountain bike riding community and the trail builder community. The results of these surveys, which resulted in responses from 4324 riders and 121 professionals working in the trail sector, helped form the backbone of the training programs developed during the project.
The program of DIRTT training materials was built upon this stakeholder analysis, and the needs expressed by the community of trailbuilders and trail users who contributed to the surveys. During the project period, the team has continuously been in contact with national reference groups consisting of forestry managers, tourism representatives and other stakeholders who will be impacted by the results of the project.
The contributions from these stakeholders have resulted in training materials specifically designed to address their needs and concerns, to ensure that trailbuilders trained within the DIRTT framework will deliver trail environments that meet the needs of users and land managers.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
The project consortium involved in the DIRTT project consisted of actors ranging from civil society to municipalities to institutions of higher learning and universities from six different countries. One partner (IMBA Europe) represented a transnational organisation with member associations across all of Europe.
By engaging with a variety of stakeholders at different levels of interest and responsibility, the project was able to better understand the challenges facing those working at the different levels of management and incorporate project elements meeting their needs and expectations.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
The primary drivers of the initiative were the trailbuilding community and institutions of higher education, together collaborating to develop curriculum and teaching methods. In order to effectively develop and disseminate the project required the input of a variety of other fields and stakeholders, including communications professionals, local and regional governments, and advocacy organisations working in harmony for a common cause.
Effectively packaging the information and knowledge of the trailbuilding community in a pedagogical program designed to allow trainers to effectively share this knowledge was a valuable exercise in transdisciplinary exchange. Strategies for effective education and training from the field of adult education provided a valuable framework for the program, while the content and skills presented by the trailbuilding community contributed unique content previously missing from educational providers at this level.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
Trailbuilding activities are ongoing across all of Europe, of varying character and professionalism, with a range of resulting physical constructions. This project aimed to codify techniques to train trailbuilders, ensuring a consistency of results in a variety of locations and terrains. By focusing on the physical, social and economic sustainability of trail projects, the project has contributed to a foundation which will allow more people access to natural experiences.
The development of a professional adult training program for trailbuilding is completely unique, and the first of its kind in the world. By establishing a credentialed, certified program for trailbuilding professionals the project has assisted in raising the bar for future trail projects.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
The project envisions a variety of use cases for trailbuilding education: from working with volunteers in a local organisation, to training professional trailbuilders starting a career in professional trailbuilding and maintenance. As a result, the platform developed is flexible, allowing for a partial or more comprehensive curriculum dependent upon the needs of the target group.
What is more, the strategies, techniques and education material developed within the project, while specifically designed for the needs of the mountain biking community may be used by those developing trails for other user groups.
Besides these direct impacts, the project could inspire other developing professions and skills not traditionally recognized by educational institutions as worthy of developing curriculum for. These could range from activities and skills required for sustainably pursuing other forms of outdoor recreation, such as climbing, paddling or winter sports. IMBA Europe’s engagement in the umbrella organisation European Network of Outdoor Sports (ENOS) will contribute to the dissemination of this projects learnings to other fields and interest groups.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
This project was a collaborative effort with a multi-discipinary, international approach. The project team, making up a variety of actors with an interest in developing trailbuilding skills and knowledge, contributed expertise from the fields of education, trailbuilding, advocacy, governance and small enterprise to produce the framework for an educational program addressing the consortium's interests. The entire project was structured around the results of a thorough stakeholder analysis, with contributions from representatives of those with an interest in trail infrastructure in nature.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
Global climate changes and societal developments have led to a differentiation in how we desire experience of nature. Shortened winter seasons, trends in outdoor recreational behavior and increased pressure on nature areas accessible to growing urban populations together demand a reevaluation of existing recreational infrastructure and new sustainable trails.
By training trailbuilders in sustainable trailbuilding techniques, their contributions to sustainable trail infrastructure on a local level in parks, destinations and other areas will address global challenges. Trailbuilding initiatives can mitigate the direct effects of climate change in the natural environment, such as increased rainfall or shortened winter seasons by minimising erosion or providing alternative activities in summer seasons, as well as the secondary effects of climate change such as population migration, causing greater impact on nature close to developed urban areas for recreational purposes.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
The DIRTT project has already successfully launched the professional training education program at Fagskolen Viken, and the first crop of students is currently undergoing their education. Other project deliverables are in the process of being readied for dissemination, such as a library of teaching materials.
In addition, a slightly modified consortium has successfully applied for Erasmus+ funding to pursue a continuation of the project, with a focus on certifying experienced trailbuilders to further strengthen and professionalize the sector, and ensure that a broader range of projects are pursued with physical, social and economic sustainability in mind. This project launches now and will continue until December 2025, ensuring that the momentum of the work group continues in the coming years. Successfully implemented, these two programs in conjunction with each other should ensure that more recreational trail users will have access to enjoyable and sustainable trails in natural environments.

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
PDF
PDF
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
The entire purpose of the DIRTT project has been to develop training materials and techniques to improve the competence of European trailbuilders working to develop recreational infrastructure in the natural environment. Natural environments are under increased pressure, both from the direct effects of climate change and from the secondary effects of among other things changing societal habits and migrating human populations.
Building sustainable tail infrastructure addresses all of these concerns. In order to ensure that investments made in trail networks reflect sustainability best practices trailbuilding techniques need to be spread to the trailbuilding community: both among enthusiastic volunteers and the professional trailbuilding community. These are the challenges that the DIRTT project addresses.
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
{Empty}

By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes