METEOR was the support project for the European Commission CIVITAS I Initiative. The CIVITAS Initiative aims at generating a decisive breakthrough by supporting radical integrated sustainable urban transport strategies - demonstration projects - that should allow to make the difference for the welfare of European citizens in real life.

The accompanying measure METEOR was designed to support, monitor and evaluate the demonstration projects in 19 European major cities, to organise European dissemination and foster 'multiplier effects'.

The key features of METEOR were:

• to play a supporting role for all parties involved in the CIVITAS Initiative. This includes the European Commission, the partners involved in the demonstration projects as well as stakeholders at the national level and the scientific community;
• to perform independent monitoring and evaluation including expert deliverable review on the basis of a sound methodological approach based on the state of the art expertise and enriching the know-how in the field of evaluation;
• to analyse CIVITAS level impacts and to provide clear recommendations and publicity for widest take-up of successful demonstration project results.

The main output of METEOR were:

• scenario descriptions for CIVITAS sites showing the perspectives of development in a "do-nothing" scenario;
• project monitoring including deliverable review;
• analysis of radical strategies focussing on integrated aspects and relationships between different measures within a project;
• evaluation of demonstration projects at the individual level;
• short and medium-term policy recommendations addressing the complementarity aspects at local, regional, national and EU level, with special emphasis on added value and role of the EU dimension;
• European level dissemination of the CIVITAS Initiative including the establishment of the CIVITAS Forum as a core instrument.

The METEOR consortium offered the best guarantees for realisation of effective dissemination as well as impact on policies thanks to:

• the experience of its partners in the management, monitoring, evaluation and dissemination of Transport RTD projects;
• their previous involvement in other Thematic Networks and Concerted Actions, and therefore their intimate knowledge of the critical aspects associated to a successful RTD transfer activity;
• full and extensive experience in managing city networks on a day-to-day basis. Therefore being fully aware and able to manage differences in pace, local situation and political stage of the implementation of innovative processes in an urban environment.

Matthias Fiedler

Tel. +49-221-6060 5522

CIVITAS Project Website
http://www.civitas-initiative.org