OpenSpaceAlps is one of the fifteen projects approved under the framework of Call 4 for the Interreg Alpine Space programme. It brings together seven partner institutions from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia to work on the topic of near-natural open spaces in the core Alpine and EUSALP areas.

The partner(s) from France is ALPARC, The Alpine Network of Protected Areas, who will be working on the project under its working field Biodiversity and Ecological Connectivity.

The main objective is to foster sustainable development of the Alpine area by contributing to the preservation of open spaces presenting environmental and natural values. These are decreasing due to the development of settlements and transport related to areas in the valleys, or are being dissected by tourism, forestry and agriculture related to infrastructures at  higher altitudes. The approach envisaged is to initiate and facilitate processes towards the adoption of new spatial planning approaches in the Alpine countries as well as to promote multi-level, transnational spatial governance.

The initial meeting of the project partnership was held in Altenmarkt, Austria, on the 5th and 6th of November 2019. Besides discussing the first steps for the implementation of the project, presentations were held on the topic of the development of open space planning instruments in the project's case study area, as well as and more generally in the Alpine area.

OpenSpaceAlps is an Interreg Alpine Space project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.