After the first workshop dealing with the Territorial Kit (focused on the analysis of socio-economic and spatial development) the ESPON project titled KARPAT had its second online workshop on 26^th November 2024.

CESCI was represented on this second WS by Roland Hesz, similarly to the previous event. This time stakeholders (a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from planning, public administration, policy-making, local governance, NGOs, academia, entrepreneurs, and activists) were informed about the Policy Kit, and had the chance to use a participatory approach to develop policy recommendations for the Carpathian Macroregion.

The first block of the workshop focused on the introduction of typology of regions and the preliminary recommendations for actions focused on economic, human, social and natural capitals. The assessment of potential spatial development scenarios took place, and recommendations for functional areas were also discussed. At last, but not least, after the presentation of governance and cooperation patterns, a participatory policymaking for governance was organised.

Roland Hesz, Chief Analyst of CESCI, gave comments and recommendations throughout the whole process. He underlined the importance of the potentials lying in sustainable land use and agriculture, sustainable and green tourism in mountainous areas based on joint heritage (such as wooden churches, mountain cultures and folk art) and natural areas, the presence of national and ethnic minorities with special identities and language knowledge capable of connecting people across borders, the threat of floods and other climate- and man-made disasters, the need for better waste management, the spread of pollution especially in connection with transboundary water bodies, degrowth in traditional farming and grazing, monostructural economies of less developed and remote areas, the need for creating higher added value economic activities, weak accessibility to public functions in rural areas. The role of cross-border organisations such as EGTCs in cross-border cooperation have been successfully represented in the document partly owing to CESCI’s input. Also, recommendations now include establishing Carpathian contact points, facilitating the creation of functional cross-border areas, implementing a territorially integrated approach, and adjusting legal regulations to minimize the barriers in Carpathian cooperation (intergovernmental agreements, laws, border regime) owing to the professional assistance provided by CESCI during an online personal interview with Roland Hesz between the two WSs, and during the 2^nd workshop.