These guidelines for good practice transfer are meant to serve as a facilitating tool for those municipalities that wish to implement a practice from another city in their own city setting. We have titled the method the step-by-step approach which includes four consecutive phases. All phases are supported by guidance forms that can be used as a tool in the transfer process.

Cities that wish to engage in good practice transfer should start the process by creating plans for a detailed study visit to the city with the existing good practice. The study visit is an effective way to gather information.

Planning for the study visit has to be undertaken carefully to ensure a productive visit. Dates of the visit should be fixed well in advance so that timing suitable for all parties can be found. Remember to serve some time for other formalities related to the actual trip, such as possible visa arrangements and hotel bookings.

Contents wise it should be considered who would take part in the study visit and what are the expectations to gain from it. The persons participating in the visit should be key persons in the municipality and have adequate knowledge on the subject matter. Expectations for the study visit should be made explicit in a written form and discussed over with the hosts in advance to ensure that the goals are matching.

The purpose of the study visit is to gather detailed information on the existing good practice. This information will later serve as a basis for a feasibility study. Necessary equipment, such as camera, for the documentation are needed in order to record all relevant information.

Aspects to pay attention to during the study visit are details of the itself, similarities and differences between the two municipalities, the defining factors behind the success of the existing practice and possible difficulties the host city has encountered. Inquiries about financial and administrative resources allocated for the project as well as technical matters and legislative requirements are necessary. Naturally, the benefits of the practice for stakeholders and local environment should be considered.

After the study visit the next step is to use the collected information in conducting a feasibility study. This means analyzing in detail the existing good practice and factors that have led to its success as well as the local environment and preconditions for transferring the practice successfully.

In practice the feasibility study can be divided into two parts: a description of the existing practice and circumstances in the host city and an analysis of the situation in own municipality and the possibilities to implement the practice.

Conditions in own municipality are mirrored against the information from the host city. The existing resources – financial, administrative and legislative – need to be considered from the point of view of implementing the practice. Conduct also analyses on stakeholders and expected environmental impacts of the practice. SWOT-analysis can be used as a tool at this stage of the good practice transfer.

Adapting the good practice in another city means creating a concrete project plan with set objectives and ways to monitor them.

The project planning process starts with a description of the current situation and the problems in need to be solved with the good practice. Accordingly, the project plan sets the overall goals of the project as well as more detailed sub-goals and states the ways of evaluation and monitoring.

The project planning also requires a detailed description of the practice and risk assessment. Practical aspects of project planning include acquiring the financial resources for the project, developing a budget, formulating a viable time-schedule and finding and nominating suitable project partners and steering group.