4.2.4. Programs

Programs are policy packages aiming at a particular objective. They can be used to create economic conditions (financial schemes, direct investments, allocation of developing funds) for sustainable land use. Throughout Europe, these initiatives have been mainly implemented to create the economic conditions for the renewal of industrial areas (e.g., 22@Barcelona implemented in Spain since 2000), the protection of environmental quality (e.g., the Re-creation of Lake Karla in Thessaly in Greece since 1999 and the Enjoy Waltham Forest program of 2014 in the UK), as well as for promoting cross-cutting initiatives like the BENE—Berlin Programme on Sustainable Development (Germany), implemented since 2015, or the National Strategy for Inner Area (SNAI—Italy) [59,60]. More in detail, the Recreation of Lake Karla in Thessaly [61,62] was seen as an opportunity to enhance the water supply, restore the ecosystem and improve the quality of the soil that was in danger of overexploitation. The Enjoy Waltham Forest program has also been positively seen because it has delivered a series of micro-interventions (e.g., segregated cycle lanes, planting trees) aiming at promoting a more environmentally oriented approach. More oriented towards spatial and social regeneration, the Piano Periferie 1 and 2, introduced in Italy since 2015, aim to recover abandoned and deprived areas by investing in environmental and social, as well as economic sustainability, by allocating 4 billion EUR (two have been already activated) for the improvement of the cities' peripheries by prioritizing urban requalification and the regeneration of abandoned areas. In this respect, several initiatives have been financed and some of them are already implemented, while others are expected to be concluded in the coming years. Finally, the success of the Berlin Program on Sustainable Development (BENE), is evidenced by the amount of funds allocated (234 million EUR), the number of projects put in place and the integration of existing development programs, and a similar assessment concerns the Italian SNAI, aiming at integrating the use of EU and domestic resources in rural areas.
