The main objective of the project consisted in gathering, on the 2 Seas territory, a network of French, Flemish, Dutch and British local authorities developing policies to enhance the fortified military heritage.
The main goal was to confront experience and expertise in terms of ecological management and interpretation, enhancing and use of sites (Development, equipment, cultural and tourist promotion, mediation with communities) and to enable the emergence of a joint, efficient approach in this respect.
Its purpose was also to leave records of this work under the form of brochures and studies, accessible to a wide public (whether professional or not) through direct dissemination, or during conferences (For example the Lille conference or the Pampeluna conference in Spain/ FORTIUS ) or on websites. The communications dimension of the project was important to ensure the dissemination of the results of this collective work, including outside the partnership.

The implementation of workgroups initiated a network of expert technicians and local contacts that offer a common and adaptable methodology.
The joint use of management tools, the sharing of data, the design and delivery of crosscutting actions helped improve efficiency.
The outcome was a project that contributed to make the territory and the actions organised on it, a reference area through the contributed experiences and innovations on the theme of the ecological management, cultural and tourism-oriented interpretation and development of fortified sites.

Activity 1: Ecological site management and landscaping

- Creation of a technical workgroup, made up of technicians/site operators from each partner, of specialists of the Lead Partner and third-party contractor on the theme of landscaping and ecological site management

-The drawing up of an inventory /diagnostic of existing methods with a view to establishing a critical analysis and researching new practices in terms of ecological management and landscaping of fortified sites

- Formalising of the outcome in the form of technical sheets developed by the third party service provider in cooperation with the partners and Département du Nord

- Implementation of 5 practical training modules dedicated to site operators

- Developing of a digital management tool made available to partners to design and follow-up on their management plan, to program work and on-site operations

- Experimenting of the recommendations and expertise of workgroups through pilot projects conducted with partners

Activity 2 Cultural and tourism-oriented interpretation and development

- Creation of a workgroup (2)

- Inventorying of the existing methods and policies implemented

-Implementation of 5 practical training modules designed for tour guides or local coordinators, to create common descriptive elements and shared approaches

- Development of a common tourist-oriented tool and a guide on fortifications

- Experimenting of the recommendations and expertise of workgroups through pilot projects conducted with partners

- Creation of a workgroup (3), open to all partners, on the theme of borders to reflect, based on the Franco-Belgian experience, on the relation between fortification and borders

The exchanges will contribute to the development of a guide on fortifications and a software program implemented on all cross-border sites in France and Flanders

Activity 4: communication and events

Creation of a workgroup (4)

11 partners are concerned by an investment which provides enhancement and protection of sites

Development of a common methodology designed to be transferable to other sites and cities confronted to the same issues.

Improvement in the sites' reception conditions for residents and tourists

Enhancement of experts', historians', researchers' and specialised departments' knowledge

Activity 1: Standardised and improved management of sites, particularly by accounting for landscape criteria and ecological wealth in local projects.

Qualification of local delegates and technicians by implementation of training schemes

Sustainability or even positive evolution of the fauna and flora that are specific to these sites

Activity 2: Implementation of a common culture in matters of interpretation and improved consideration of cultural mediation criteria in local projects.

Qualification or upgrading of local players through training

Cross-border communications and major events. Creation of specific tools to contribute to the success of the above-mentioned actions. Events to promote the project's actions and raise the awareness on these themes; (Euro-region days; photo competition; Symposium; Press Trip…)

Qualification or upgrading of local players through training.

Walls and gardens made it possible to develop and redevelop 16 sites assigned as pilot sites for the application of the ecological principles, the exchange of experiences and the visitor interpretation solutions upheld by the project. Those pilot projects were enhanced with recommandations and expertise from workgroups

Thanks to expertise exchanges, the direct beneficiaries of the projects are therefore the partners and beyond their technicians and local elected members. In this respect, all partners and territories have benefited. Obviously, those partners who have had pilot projects as experimentation of recommendations and expertise from workgroups have benefited more directly from this result.

Investments have provided added value to those partners concerned, either in the form of development of fortified sites (Fortified architecture, e.g. Brugge, Ieper, Essex), creation of interpretation centres (Ieper casemate), cultural sites (Gravelines, Saint Omer) and their surroundings (Bergues, Hardelot castle).
All communication tools, studies, visits, cross-border events have benefited all partners (In terms of environment, mediation or enhancement of the culture and history of borders). With an adequate distribution over all the territories in the project.
In addition to direct benefits provided by pilot projects conducted on sites, the sharing of expertise and the dissemination of knowledge will benefit all the experts, researchers and stakeholders on the whole projects' territory (for example through the tools, the website or the conferences). The service provider for action 1 himself gained some valuable experience.
An educational dimension was sought for the benefit of residents (Cross-border events, photo competition, and border presentation software), younger audiences (Illustrated ecological almanac) and technical and cultural managers (knowledge, philosophy of respect for fauna, flora, and architecture to reconcile protection, development, usage and sustainable development).

All residents of the sites and tourists, i.e. those who practice the sites have benefited and will benefit from re-appropriated measures (New sustainable tools, permanent website, methods of interpretation) and reception conditions meeting their expectations.

A number of actions (e.g. the studies conducted by PP6-Lille) will lead to other developments outside the project.

Making fortified sites known, and sharing best practices and knowledge in terms of ecological management of fortified sites is a benefit for the present and the future.

The main events, which are the study days and the euroregional days of fortified sites, gathered around 25 000 people who were directly made sensitive to the sites wealth and to their ecological, historic and cultural value. Although it's difficult to estimate the number of visitors on the pilot sites, because most of them are in free access, informations given by the toursit offices state around 450 000 visits during the duration of the project.

The various methodologies developed throughout the project were designed to be transferable to those sites confronted with identical issues and are therefore sustainable. Materials such as technical files are tools designed to be circulated in order to disseminate the outcome of the project.

In addition, the presence of major local authorities (Départements, Provinces, Counties ) will facilitate any potential translation of the results of the project into common law policies.

The common tools developed were also designed to be permanent: the training modules can be exploited beyond the duration of the project and beyond the partners of the network; the digital management tool intends to be enriched after the project has been closed.

Finally, all the investments made will represent an accessible and sustainable example of cross-border cooperation, while benefiting residents and tourists in the 2Seas area and beyond.

Thanks to the partnership working conducted throughout the project, strong links have been established. These links will remain, probably more within each territory given the language barrier.
The network in its entirety will only last if a common follow-up to the project is initiated, which doesn't seem to be the case for the moment.
However, those partners who wish to engage in new Interreg projects will seek partners in the current Walls and Gardens network as a priority.

The Lead Partner doesn't seem to have new projects. As it is part of Direction de la Culture and failing programme priorities in this specific theme, no opportunities have appeared for the moment. In addition, the difficult financial context has led the local authority to suspend its participation in any new European project.
Some partners in the project have however expressed the desire to continue the work in other projects: PP12-PFO would like to work on (sub)urban green spaces. PP8-Saint Omer & PP14 Ieper would also like to engage in new Interreg projects.
Partners who could not complete (PP7-Montreuil sur Mer) or even start (PP9-Watten) their local experiments/investments will complete the work after the end of the Walls and Gardens project in order to benefit from of the expertise acquired during the project.