Vision

The Crouzet, Slovenska Bistrica’s historic urban area will thrive by becoming an inclusive people-centric space.

The city will be boosted via a wide range of festivals, events and services, becoming more attractive to residents and visitors alike, specifically targeting young families. The entrepreneurial, cultural, creative and educational activities will be developed via the Crouzet hub, promoting new companies and start-ups.

The Crouzet has the potential to become the centre for entrepreneurship and creativity of Slovenska Bistrica. This future hub Will combine the promotion of new companies or start-ups in their development pase and the development of creative, cultural and educational activities and content.

Values

• The HUA is people-centric and inclusive
• The HUA is vibrant and cosy
• The HUA is ingenious and creative

Missions

The city’s ambition is to become a model of successful revitalisation of historic urban areas for many other small Slovenian towns.

Mission 1 | Setting up The Crouzet as a recognised central space for nurturing  entrepreneurship, creativity, collaboration and innovation to boost local skills and business/employment opportunities.

• Establish a preservation and refurbishment plan for the Crouzet
• Establish a governance and management model for the Crouzet
• Building up a varied events programme taking place at the Crouzet based on local culture, tangible and intangible heritage

Mission 2: The Crouzet as a catalyzer to boost innovation, local entrepreneurship and encourage job creation

• Develop a start-up incubator programme
• Select new companies and start-ups via specific calls for tenders or invitations carried out by the Municipality of Slovenska Bistrica, according to predefined and transparent selection criteria
• Implementation of an Acceleration programme for local creatives and businesses

Mission 3: Promote a participatory revitalisation model of the HUA’s buildings, streets and squares

• Establish a HUA revitalisation board composed of different key local stakeholders from public, private and third sector and representatives of residents.
• Mapping of empty public and private spaces in the HUA and set up of a one-stop-shop for temporary use of the space for social, sustainable and entrepreneurship purposes
• Design and publish an annual call for small local projects in the HUA to improve the quality of the public space and contribute to revitalisation of the HUA (events, initiatives, small renovations, ideas for temporary use of empty spaces, development of products) funded via small grants and voluntary labour.
• Reviving abandoned shop windows in the HUA

Annexes

The following documents can be consulted at this link:

• ANNEX 1 – Results of the citizen survey carried out during the end of 2021 and first half of 2022
• ANNEX 2 – Ideas for potential events/initiative to revitalise the HUA (developed within a stakeholder workshop in May 2022).