1. Canal Area Roeselare-Ooigem
(Belgium)
Thursday 10th October 2013
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2. Canal Area ?
Canal area Roeselare-Ooigem
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2 cities & 3 municipalities:
• Roeselare
• Izegem
• Ingelmunster
• Oostrozebeke
• Wielsbeke
Around 110.000 inhabitants

3. Area Programme canal zone
 Exists since 2005
 Received (co-)funding from Europe (Canal Link, Waterways for Growth, Functioneel
Groen, …)
 What:
 Integrated (many policy domains) cooperation project, coordinated by the Province of
West-Flanders (Belgium)
 Coordinated does not mean ‘lead by the Province of West-Flanders’ (bottom-up
project)
 Mission:
“To strengthen the canal zone and make all of its functions more attractive
through cooperation with many (relevant) partners.”
11 structural partners, a lot more (public & private) partners for specific projects
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Underlying goal: to create a ‘canal area identity’ (community building)
People drive along the canal everyday, but are so used to it that they don’t really
see it anymore. People also don’t realize enough how much there is to see and
experience in their own region. Nobody knows (knew?) what impact the canal
had (and has) on the development of our region.

4. Canal Roeselare-Leie

16,5 km. long (canal ends in Roeselare)

Very multifunctional: mainly economical function but there is also
room for tourism, recreation, nature, …

Important part of the local ‘green and blue network’ (largest
waterway of the area)

Connected to the Leie river (connection with France)

~ 3,5 million tonnes (1000 kg.) per year

Studies are ongoing to make the canal more accessible for larger
ships (part of the larger Seine-Schelde project)

5. Canal Roeselare-Leie

Quite a lot economical dynamism along the canal
 Recently built large (strategic) fuel depot (175 million liters of
fuel)

Lots of (concentrated) industry along the canal + quite a lot of
new industry being created right now and in the near future.
Most enterprises along the canal use it to transport goods.

Plans to develop a multimodal logistic platform (inland
terminal)

6. 2010 – 2012
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2 strategic goals

7. Two Goals
1. To develop a coherent action plan for the
(multifunctional) future of the canal zone.
2. To develop an attractive anniversary programme for
the 150th anniversary of the canal Roeselare-Leie
(2012).

8. First goal
 To develop an action programme with actions concerning:
 Economy (logistic cooperation, cooperation between enterprises for
specific services, strengthening social economy, etc.)
 Mobility (towpath improval, better connection between canal and
Leie river, …)
 Tourism/Recreation (action plan, based on the event programme 150
years canal)
 Spatial Quality (lots of local projects to improve the attractiveness of
the canal zone: town centre renewal, new small parks, reopening old
or creating new roads for cyclists/pedestrians, …)
 Nature & environment (a more ‘green’ canal area)

9. Second Goal
 What: To develop an attractive anniversary programme for 2012
(150th anniversary canal Roeselare-Leie)
 Why: 1862 = the year in which the canal project got approved by
the Belgian government and parliament (far from easy to get this
project approved!!)

10. (Sub)Goals
 Not just ‘partying’, but:
 Taking a look at the past  what impact had the canal on the
demographic, economical, landscape, … development of this region
(quite a big one!)
 Creating a new / improving our regional identity: the canal zone as
attractive future oriented region. This instead of a grey and boring
region.
 Presenting the high amount of economical dynamism and the
industrial character of the canal area as an asset.

11. Event Programme
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12. Importance of communication
 Totally new story and events: really important
 211 press articles, some bought, most of them not!
 People liked the theme, a lot of spontaneous communication
initiatives (for example: ten weeks of interviews in the largest regional
newspaper)
 159 days between first and last event: 1,3 articles a day!
 Lots of communication products:
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146.000 specific newspapers
dozens of articles in regional newspapers
more than 20.000 flyers
event flags in every city
more than 500 posters
more than 4500 brochures for the art project
…

13. Importance of communication
 Website became a large succes! Lots of visitors (more than 100.000,
60.000 unique ones), almost everyday around 100 visitors with peaks
around 1000 (close to big events)
 Communication campaign received lots of support from the partners
 Logo on all the partners websites and own brochures
 Lots of website visitors which got the link from the partners websites
 All the partners did an extra effort to develop own communication products (extra
brochures, posters, flyers, flags, …)
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14. Activities
 Extensive programme: more than 50 activities in the period April to October
2012
 Important: all the activities had quite a lot of visitors (altough 2012 had really
lousy summer weather, cf. beach)

15. Events everywhere
Beach along the canal
Open air cinema
Of course: lots of activities on the water (not always easy considering traffic)

16. Activities
A submarine along the canal
Proms @ The Port

17. Historic boat parade

18. Water fun on the canal

19. Even vikings!

20. Art project
Renato Nicolodi
Was only possible because
of the very enthusiastic
participation of
enterprises (and their
personnel)
Some of the art works
are there forever (or at
least for a lot of years…)
Nick Ervinck

21. Relation with G&B futures
 Project was used for creating/strengthening a regional identity and for
community building
 Good example of (necessary) cooperation between a lot of public and a
lot of (semi-)private partners. This brings specific challenges (goals,
financial, …).
 Lots of activities means lots of practical work (organization, security,
building up lots of things, clean-up afterwards, …). This means that lots of
people were needed! For all the activities, we (and the other partners)
insisted to work together with volunteers or the social economy when
support was needed.
This was a clear choice from the beginning.
 Everything was for free, to ensure that everybody could participate

22. Findings
 Nobody knew if the ‘canal’ was a topic that would work. We hoped it
would, but could not be sure. We were very pleasantly suprised that, next to
our ‘own’ programme, dozens of extra activities were spontaneously
organized: guided tours for cyclists and pedestrians, extra art projects, boat
trips, teambuilding activities, educational visits, …
For example: all the art schools/music schools worked together to create a
cultural centre on the water for 4 months.
 Important conclusion: there is certainly a market for canal activities, even
after the anniversary year! Small remark: you need someone to keep the
project alive (Province willing to play this role)
 Some activities came back spontaneously (sport activities, …), new activities
were created (pop up restaurant this year)
 Second important conclusion: large enthusiasm from the enterprises along
the canal to participate, even in times of economical crisis…

23. Conclusions
 All activities contributed to the creation or promotion of a specific canal
identity (community building). It also made people aware that there is more
to see and experience in their own region than one would think.
 Future goal (and largest challenge): make the cooperation (and the
activities) more structural, to keep the project (and regional identity) alive