MoMa.BIZ involves industrial areas from 5 European countries.
The MoMa.BIZ consortium included an interesting mix of EU countries spread across Europe: Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Spain and UK. BIZ from 6 different towns located in these countries have participated at the project implementing the proposed methodology for the promotion and dissemination of sustainable mobility. The different BIZ varied among them which provided a great opportunity for exchange of experiences and allowed for the methodology to be tested in diverse scenarios.
Tartu Ropka Industrial Zone, Tartu (Estonia)
The Ropka industrial zone is situated on the south part of Tartu, the second largest city of Estonia (pop 103,284). The centre of the BIZ is approximately 5 kilometres from the town centre and Annelinna, the district where approximately 30% of Tartu’s inhabitants live.
The general plan for the BIZ was made in the 80’s. The city of Tartu has a comprehensive urban plan which also includes the Ropka BIZ, which is expanding. Detailed plans are required for every new development in the BIZ, which have to be approved by the city government.
Ropka hosts different types of companies including commercial, services, productive and warehousing activities. Most of the companies are small or medium size enterprises with less than 100 employees and the majority of them has around 10-30 employees.
The majority of the employees working at the BIZ live in Tartu; however, employees also commute from other municipalities too.
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Parque Industrial del Bierzo, Ponferrada (Spain)
The parque industrial del Bierzo is located on the west side of the city of Ponferreda (pop 68,508) 1,8km away from the town centre. It is made up of two areas, PIB I and PIB II, which were created in the 1980’s and 2000 respectively. Those two parts are separated by the main road that runs through the BIZ.
The BIZ of Ponferreda is characterised by the presence of a high number of SMEs companies with less than 10 employees and only 8% of businesses have more than 25 employees. However, 58% of the people working at the BIZ are employed by a single company, a call centre.
The companies located at the BIZ are engaged predominantly in the automotive industry and services (65%) followed by construction and furniture activities (21%).
The Municipality of Ponferreda is currently the only body with decisional, organisational and executive power for the development, maintenance and management of the parque industrial del Bierzo and there is no body representing the companies in it.
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Factory for Non-ferrous Metals, Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
The Factory on Non-ferrous Metals (FNM) is a corporation from 10 companies producing and refining non-ferrous metal materials and alloys. It covers an area of 0.9km2 and is situated 10 km away from the second largest Bulgarian city, Plovdiv (pop 338,153) and 8 km north of Asenovgrad (pop 54,778). There are number of other small towns and villages near-by.
FNM has a centralised management that is responsible for the development and the policies followed by the BIZ.
FNM has well-developed accessibility to the surrounding residential areas facilitated by BIZ collective transport, private vehicle, bicycle and motorbike (in summer).
The BIZ collective transport to the major cities is organised and co-financed by the BIZ management. The employees just have to buy a travel card and get a reimbursement of 20% of its cost.
Even though, there is considerable parking space, it is usually overcrowded with private vehicles. In summer, some employees travel to the BIZ by bicycle or motorcycle. However, accessibility by bike is rather dangerous as the road connecting the BIZ to the two major cities is characterised by heavy traffic and has no bike lanes.
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Industrial Zone of Corso Alessandria, Asti (Italy)
The BIZ of Corso Alessandria is situated just outside the town of Asti (pop 75,000), Italy, along the national road that connects Asti with Alessandria (SS10) and with the motorway Torino-Brescia (A21). The centre of the BIZ is approximately 3 kilometres from the town centre and the train station of Asti.
The BIZ of Corso Alessandria is characterised by the presence of a high number of medium-small companies and a few companies with more than 200 employees. The BIZ includes manufacturing activities as well as commercial and managerial.
Currently there is no organisation of any type in charge of its management and promotion that could also represent the companies located in it. The Municipality of Asti is the only body with decisional, organisational and executive power for the development, maintenance and management of the BIZ.
50% of employees live in Asti whereas the remaining 50% live in the surrounding towns and villages.
Business area of Atarfe and Juncaril, Atarfe (Spain)
In the case of Atarfe we have two industrial zones involved in the project:
1. the BIZ of Atarfe, situated south-west of the town of Atarfe (pop 16,432);
2. the BIZ of Juncaril, situated at the south-east on the town Albolote (pop 17,892).
The characteristics of the BIZ are very similar and considering that the distance between them is only 4km, it was thought best to treat them as one BIZ in the following analysis.
The BIZ was created around 1970 with the promotion of the Ministry of Industry and the efforts of many entrepreneurs aiming to get estates adapted to the needs of their companies, giving an important boost to the economic development of Granada.
The BIZ has the characteristics of the majority of business and industrial zones in Spain, which is medium sized estates hosting mainly medium to small companies that undertake a variety of business activities. More specifically, the majority of the companies in the BIZ of Atarfe are SMEs with less than 50 employees, most of them have around 10-30 employees. The activities carried out by the companies are services, commercial and manufacturing.
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Industrial Areas of Cannock Chase (UK)
In Cannock Chase 5 areas were identified as potential BIZ projects. The first three, Orbital Retail Park, Cannock Wood and A5 Cannock, all border or are located in the town of Cannock (pop 29,018) and most of the employees are Cannock residents. Power Station Road to the North East of Cannock borders the town of Rugeley (pop 22,724) Finally Fradley Business Park to the South East of Cannock is located near the City of Litchfield (pop 32,219). Due to infrequent public transport arrangements most employees travel by private car.
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