In ROCK- cities believe that cultural heritage is a great tool for urban regeneration and a driver for change. But consequences of lockdown measures and of pandemic situation had a strong impact on cities’ local culture and cultural heritage, communities and sites, and citizens’ services. The ROCK cities reacted quickly and creatively to an unprecedented situation, exploiting the instruments developed in the ROCK project. That’s the theme presented by ROCK to the REACH Digital Gallery. Participation in culture and the rule of cultural heritage as a driving force for urban sustainability are topics shared by the two projects and that align their actions. The poster, introduces one focus of the ROCK Open Knowledge Week, a four days on line conference that will be held from 27th to 30th October 2020. The Open Knowledge Week aims to identify new ways in which cultural heritage can contribute to the regeneration, sustainable development and economic growth of cities.
Look at the poster on the REACH digital gallery
ROCK event’s page
More information about the ROCK Open Knowledge Week
ROCK event’s page
SoPHIA is a two years project started on January 2020 which aims at proposing a holistic impact assessment model for historical, environmental and cultural heritage in Europe. With the term holistic it understands that the economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions necessary to any intervention on heritage must be addressed comprehensively. The Platform will identify the most important challenges and opportunities linked to cultural heritage interventions in Europe. It will explore the general topic and the current situation as regards policies, assessment and quality of interventions, including best practices, and the creation of a draft holistic impact assessment model. It will also analyse specific case studies, focusing on people, domains and time. To achieve its goals, the project will bring together stakeholders from different fields who will define guidelines for future policies. UNCHARTED and the SoPHIA Platform has recently started a cooperation that will be increased by future common initiatives and mutual support. Surfing the waves of the pandemic, SoPHIA – Social Platform for Holistic Heritage Impact Assessment – held a first workshop online last June 25 and July 2 with its newly formed community of practice. The aim was to present the initial findings of the project, assess and exchange knowledges and practices, and spur the debate.
SoPHIA is currently bridging its first theoretical phase, during which it has collected and analyzed the literature and policies related to heritage impact assessment models and methods, with its second practical phase that foresees the design of an impact assessment model to be tested in selected cultural heritage sites, practices and events. The first phase has highlighted, among other things, the lack of models that duly address the four dimensions considered as fundamental when dealing with heritage interventions, namely the social, economic, cultural and environmental dimensions; the priority given to the economic dimension at the expense of other fundamental dimensions; the lack of consultative and participatory processes that provide for a sense of ownership by the communities; as well as the need for assessment models that take into account the long term impact of interventions, especially after so-called big events.
SOPHIA is a two years project started on January 2020 which aims at proposing a holistic impact assessment model for historical, environmental and cultural heritage in Europe. With the term holistic it understands that the economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions necessary to any intervention on heritage must be addressed comprehensively. The Platform will identify the most important challenges and opportunities linked to cultural heritage interventions in Europe. It will explore the general topic and the current situation as regards policies, assessment and quality of interventions, including best practices, and the creation of a draft holistic impact assessment model. It will also analyse specific case studies, focusing on people, domains and time. To achieve its goals, the project will bring together stakeholders from different fields who will define guidelines for future policies.
In the first place, the context of the SoPHIA project was presented. This was followed by a series of keynote speeches that set the framework for the issue at hand: Annalisa Cicerchia, Roma Tre University, presented “Impact Assessment Methods” and Beatriz García, Institute of Cultural Capital, University of Liverpool, shared her views on “Why do present Impact Assessment Models prove inadequate”. The gaps and opportunities identified regarding heritage impact assessment models were also presented with a summary of guidelines and programmes from the EU and other world regions. Participants debated in small groups and, based on their experiences, contributed different perspectives that will be taken into account in the drafting of the SoPHIA impact assessment model. All the material of the Athens Virtual Workshop will be shortly made available for download from the SoPHIA website.
Cultural Heritage, Resilience and Sustainable Urban Regeneration are the focus of the session “Re-Inventing Heritage for Sustainable Urban Regeneration’, which will be held the morning of the third day conference from 9:30 to 11:00 CET. The session will explore how cultural heritage has the potential to enable new forms of collaboration and cultural production, to support cities to cope with future challenges, creating the conditions to carry out sustainable adaptive reuse projects. Participants will also discuss how cultural heritage can contribute to strengthening the resilience of communities. In this contest, ROCK experience with sustainable urban regeneration will be presented by Erica Albarello. The speech will focus on Turin’s views on how heritage, culture and creativity are relevant for the sustainable development of the City, specifically looking at the examples of adaptive heritage reuse initiatives co-developed together with local community groups. Cristina Garzillo, will co-moderate the session.
The 9th edition of the European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns, is organised as a virtual event from today 30 September to 2 October 2020. It brings together local and regional leaders, European and international institutions and some of the brightest minds working on cutting edge research, businesses and the civil society to forge a more sustainable Europe.
Five graduating artists of Goldsmiths Digital Arts Computing Bsc display their work in an unanticipated context. Together with Arebyte Gallery’s AOS they present the online exhibition Remote Latency
If you have interesting news and events to point out in the field of digital cultural heritage, we are waiting for your contribution.
