The structure of the Project includes seven Work Packages (WPs):

WP1. Project Management and Coordination, including administrative, legal, and economic-financial activities to start and implement the actions envisaged by the individual WPs;

WP2. State-of-the-art of the abandonment phenomenon. The aim of the WP is to analyse the phenomenon of abandonment both in Italy and in the Euro-Mediterranean areas, taking the causes of abandonment, the protection, and geoconservation policies of the sites in mind;

WP3. Full-scale knowledge of the three test sites (Craco, Italy; Vilarinho da Furna, Portugal; Himara, Albania, see “Test sites” section) to: a) know the historical-urbanistic, geological, geomorphological and naturalistic aspects; b) identify the geological and geomorphological risk factors of the sites, with a view to their active geoconservation; c) analyse protection and geoconservation practices; d) study and characterize the project areas from a socio-economic-territorial point of view; e) inventory, catalogue and draw up an atlas of local cultural heritage; f) carry out a survey of public and private bodies in the field of tourism management; g) analyse the use of ICT technologies in tourism;

WP4. Test site: implementation for Craco. The aim is:  a) to build up a Documentation and Interpretation Centre of the abandonment phenomenon having the Euro-Mediterranean area as target, b) implement a web gis platform for diachronic and multilevel knowledge of the town and cultural and landscape heritage; c) develop a prototype platform for virtual reality applications for the knowledge, valorisation, and fruition of the site; d) suggest proper geoconservation strategies for Craco;

WP5. Development of best practices:  a) editing of a manual for geoconservation and restoration of buildings of abandoned towns, b) editing of manual of best practices for fruition and management of abandoned sites;

WP6. Matchmaking activities. Information and technical assistance of local authorities and other stakeholders in the definition of investment plans for protection, geoconservation, and fruition of the “ghost towns”, with particular attention to the use of ground-breaking technologies and intervention techniques for recovery, protection, valorisation, and fruition of the three project sites;

WP7. Communication. The aim is to disseminate the activities carried out by the partners within the Project, involving citizens, stakeholders and policymakers with a view to the capacity building envisaged by the EUSAIR strategy.

Work packages and expected outputs of the BEGIN project