PLUS partners plunge into the Deep Dive methodology
The City of Lyon hosted the first PLUS Deep Dive event from the 23rd to the 25th of May 2011, enabling PLUS partners to not only discover the lighting strategy of a city that is one of the most advanced in the field, but also to discover a veritable new methodology of exchanging information and best practices.
So what does the Deep Dive process concretely imply?
Following a self-assessment, the host city presents its technical and strategic choices and then puts them up for debate and review to visiting lighting experts from partner cities. This is done through structured workshops and interviews involving all the local stakeholders. Jean-Michel Piecuck, the PLUS Lighting Expert from Nice, speaks of his experience, saying, “I participated in two interviews and theywere both very interesting – you listen to other people, you challenge and you contribute. All the teams had worked hard to prepare and so we learnt a lot.” Sevdalina Vonova, PLUS Project Manager from Sofia adds, “The positive aspectof theDeepDiveis that it allows for maximum participation froma wide variety of people.” Through such a combination of methods, the Deep Dive aims to enable the rapid identification
of the host city’s lighting successes and shortcomings.
This intensive 2-day peer-review process then culminates in an evaluation report and recommendations by visiting experts. Speaking of the methodology as a whole, Heike Besier, PLUS Project Manager from Leipzig stated, “It’s good to have such an organized process and timetable where everyone knowswhat to prepare andwhat to do.This type ofmethodologyworks because it gives us a clear structure and everyone prepares in the same way so thatwhenwemeet, everyone speaks the same language. We know what is expected and what we should deliver.”
The challenge of course, is the extensive preparation required, both on the part of the host city and the visiting experts – a challenge that partners are more than willing to take on in the upcoming months.
