A Policy Report by Centrinno, Hub-In and T-Factor
Over the past decades, abandonment and decay of urban, industrial and rural heritage has occurred in many historic urban areas and cultural landscapes due to reduction of economic activities and closing down of industries. This has led to unemployment, disengagement and economic stagnation, contributing to breaking up traditional social structures, gentrification and over-reliance on volatile sectors, such as tourism.
Thanks to their symbolic and cultural value, and to their specific urban fabric, historic areas have the potential to be transformed into hubs of entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, and social and cultural integration reaping the opportunities offered by, for instance, emerging creative sectors, digital technologies, the sharing and ‘maker’ economy, and social innovation. An evidence-based leveraging of historic and cultural assets’ value can transform challenges into economic, social and cultural opportunities, while fully respecting the identity of the historic urban areas and cultural landscapes.
This policy report makes use of the learnings from Horizon 2020 CENTRINNO, T-Factor and HUB-IN projects aiming to provide guidance in the implementation of heritage-driven urban regeneration approaches by making cities more creative, resilient, and innovative. More specifically, the experiences collected, the challenges, reflections and policy recommendations aim to:
Demonstrate the need to strengthen culture-led urban regeneration policy to unlock and boost local economies and new models of innovation.
Support policy makers in understanding the value of cultural heritage and its potential as a productive circular factor in a social entrepreneurship context.
Drive better policy-making rooted in evidence and lessons learnt across regulatory, governance, funding, and civic participation and engagement challenges.
- Enable stakeholders to influence the development of culture-led urban regeneration policies conducive to more sustainable and creative historic urban areas.
