[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7115\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPlants and sensors are being used to help Bologna locals rediscover their city\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHistoric buildings and places, known as a city\u2019s cultural heritage, can attract tourists and provide a shared sense of history for residents. Yet neglect, lack of funding and regulation are causing some cultural sites to fall into disuse or become derelict.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese areas also face other\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/RegData\/etudes\/BRIE\/2018\/621876\/EPRS_BRI(2018)621876_EN.pdf\u0022\u003Ethreats\u003C\/a\u003E, such as urban development encroaching on historic spaces, excessive tourism, natural disasters and climate change \u2014 with increasing events like flooding and shifting temperatures and humidity all\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3263\/8\/8\/305\/pdf\u0022\u003Etaking their toll\u003C\/a\u003E. At the same time, the percentage of Europeans who live in cities is\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/research\/environment\/index.cfm?pg=nbs\u0022\u003Eexpected to increase from today\u2019s 70% to 80% by 2050\u003C\/a\u003E, putting more strain on urban management.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut finding sustainable ways to revive cultural sites could help tackle these issues and spark wider positive changes, such as better relationships between residents, according to Pamela Lama from the Municipality of Bologna, Italy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne problem in Bologna is that, because the University of Bologna is directly in the city centre, students and residents live side by side but their divergent lifestyles and the student nightlife put the two groups at odds with one another. Drugs, homelessness and vandalism are also present. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Since forever there has been a problem of coexistence between on the one side the residents, and the other side the students,\u2019 said Lama.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Municipality of Bologna oversees a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/210174\/factsheet\/en\u0022\u003EROCK\u003C\/a\u003E, which is working to revitalise the historic centres of 10 European cities, including their own. Bologna is home to\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.unibo.it\/en\u0022\u003EEurope\u2019s oldest university\u003C\/a\u003E, and other important cultural sites including a national art gallery, libraries and an opera house.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThrough ROCK, the city aims to rejuvenate the student area, make residents feel safe and included, and help people discover the city\u2019s \u2018hidden treasures\u2019.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The university area is (developed along) a very, very important street as regards to cultural heritage, and that is not very much known \u2014 not even by the residents,\u2019 said Lama. \u2018So the university and the municipality together decided to transform this area through cultural heritage.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETheir first undertaking, designed with groups of students and completed in July 2018, was turning Piazza Scaravilli \u2013 a historic square which was de facto used as a university car park \u2013 into an urban garden where people can sit, meet and socialise.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe square is no longer a car park but a welcoming space, with a wave-shaped stage for performances and new seating areas. All were designed to be constructed using\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bologna.rockproject.eu\/slab-workshop-di-auto-costruzione\/\u0022\u003Elocal and natural materials\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and integrating plants that were specifically chosen to improve biodiversity in the area.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@alignleft@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022The former car park in Bologna\u0027s Piazza Scaravelli has been transformed into an urban garden. Image credit - Pamela Lama\u0022 height=\u0022720\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/Concert%20in%20PiazzaScaravilli.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022The former car park in Bologna\u0027s Piazza Scaravelli has been transformed into an urban garden. Image credit - Pamela Lama\u0022 width=\u00221280\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EThe former car park in Bologna\u0027s Piazza Scaravelli has been transformed into an urban garden. Image credit - Pamela Lama\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdaptive reuse\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis approach of using already built areas for a different purpose is known as adaptive reuse and it\u2019s central to the project\u2019s work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey have three guiding principles, developed through public consultations involving around 2,500 people in Bologna. These are: improving accessibility to sites for both the general public and people with physical and visual impairments; environmental and economic sustainability; and improving collaboration between different communities and local businesses.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother initiative of the project was what Lama calls a \u2018green intervention\u2019 on the underused\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LaTerrazzaTCBO\/\u0022\u003Elarge, upper-floor balcony\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;of the iconic opera house. It is now lined with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rockproject.eu\/news-details\/181\u0022\u003Eecologically diverse plants,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003Eand opened this summer to the public for the first time for tourists and locals to admire the views over the university area at Piazza Verdi, where much of the student nightlife concentrates. ROCK is also experimenting with augmented reality so that people can see inside the building.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA network of sensors is currently being placed throughout the surrounding streets, to provide data on air quality, temperature and noise levels to monitor the environmental impact of the ROCK projects. Other sensors detect the flow of people. The team is starting to analyse this data to see whether it should support future urban planning, such as how to avoid too much overcrowding, for example.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther ongoing transformations include installations by a lighting design company that will soon illuminate darkened corners and porticoes around the university.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy establishing these practices, Lama says the idea is to create a model that can be replicated in other parts of the city, and in turn inform other European cities about how to transform their historic areas into sustainable cultural hotspots.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFortress\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Skopje, Macedonia, for example, a medieval fortress will become a technology-driven culture hub. Meanwhile, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, a digital tracking system will enable users to tag places of interest and those that are hard to reach to later help improve access for people with disabilities. ROCK is also creating a tourism service for the cities which will include tactile maps for people who are visually impaired.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInjecting such dynamism into cultural heritage sites can also have economic and environmental benefits for cities \u2013 if it is done properly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018European cities can create new economic, social, cultural and environmental values from currently abandoned and underused buildings, sites and landscapes,\u2019 said Antonia Gravagnuolo from the Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development in Naples, Italy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne example is the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/deceuvel.nl\/en\/\u0022\u003EDe Ceuvel\u003C\/a\u003E project in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A community of entrepreneurs recovered and refitted old boats with symbolic cultural value to the region, and turned the area into a self-sustaining workspace. Energy is produced through photovoltaic and solar panels and biogas, and waste from human activities is reused. Vegetables grown in an on-site greenhouse use recovered and treated water, while any surplus energy can be traded for meals in the restaurant.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u0026#039;European cities can create new economic, social, cultural and environmental values from currently abandoned and underused buildings, sites and landscapes.\u0026#039;\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EAntonia Gravagnuolo, Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development, Naples, Italy\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGravagnuolo co-coordinates a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/212930\/en\u0022\u003ECLIC\u003C\/a\u003E, which aims to develop and test such \u2018adaptive reuse\u2019 models of cultural heritage and to attract new sustainable investments to fund regeneration projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo far, researchers have studied around 130 regeneration case studies in Europe and has begun extracting characteristics that explain success or failure in each one.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team is also creating tools to help support decision making and evaluation for regeneration initiatives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the factors linking the De Ceuvel project with other successes is that they\u2019ve taken a circular approach to development. \u2018A circular closed metabolism has been carefully designed, where the needed resources are generated onsite and nothing is wasted,\u2019 explained Gravagnuolo.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis involves water recovery, using renewable energy and re-using existing building materials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018All the buildings that you reuse, you are actually reusing the materials and the embodied energy inside, so you don\u0027t need to spend more energy,\u2019 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-cs5uwearr-frrwo5-lksh2e7cx7dno0cc4n8zpbmeli\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-cS5UWeaRr-FRRWo5-lKsH2E7CX7DnO0cC4n8ZPBmELI\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]