INHERIT Social Labs: First round wraps up with success // ZSI

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INHERIT Social Labs: First round wraps up with success

30. Jul 2024

ZSI coordinates & facilitates co-creation events with 8 European pilot on cultural heritage buildings.

In the framework of INHERIT – a project funded by the Horizon Europe programme – by now seven social labs have been established all over Europe to address renovation plans of cultural heritage (CH) buildings and extract their social value for the stakeholders in the region. The historic building stock in the INHERIT project is heterogeneous and consists of buildings from different time periods, constructed in different ways with different materials, and follows different architectural ideals. This situation implies that there is a need for differentiated renovation strategies and targeted policies along the heritage-built environment’s life cycle that promote energy and resource efficiency, sustainability and social inclusiveness while preserving cultural heritage. The Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) is the responsible project partner enabling and coordinating the collaborative research and co-creation processes in the project.

ZSI senior researchers Pamela Bartar and Philipp Brugner explain the participatory idea: “Throughout the project duration, the INHERIT social labs – and later the so-called INHERIT Multi-Stakeholder Forum launching in October 2024 – address a bundle of topics referring to sustainable, inclusive, resource-efficient and resilient CH. We put a particular focus on the stakeholder engagement strategy for the maximisation of the social impact and the sustainability of the selected cultural heritage pilots – hand in hand with the technical solutions that are envisaged for each building.”

Social labs are temporary spaces which enable the co-creation of solutions for eight different use cases covering design, renovation, monitoring at building scale and analysis, forecast and resilience to climate change at the city and neighborhood scale. Moreover, stakeholder engagement efforts aim at co-creating innovations for INHERIT stakeholders and based on the topics e.g. of sustainable cities and communities, and climate action (SDGs 11,13) and the the Quadruple Helix framework, which describes the university-industry-government-public interactions within the knowledge economy.

Engaging on-site communities and multi-disciplinary experts in the project's knowledge exchange empowers social lab participants to sustain the INHERIT initiatives moving forward. Simultaneously, involving diverse stakeholders from the Quadruple Helix beside science and research – such as civil society, media, education industry and the policy sector – facilitates a more likely social acceptance of the community-centered innovation enhancing the value of cultural heritage by promoting the well-being of local communities and attracting visitors.

From May to July 2024, the pilot project partners of the INHERIT project successfully launched their social labs through a series of kick-off events. These events were designed to foster community engagement and collaboration, each lasting approximately half a day to one day. Stakeholders were invited to participate in these sessions, which utilised participatory methods to facilitate dynamic and inclusive discussions. This approach involved organising participants e.g. on round tables encouraging open dialogue and the exchange of ideas in a relaxed, informal setting.

The Art of Hosting approach proved to be an effective way to gather diverse perspectives and insights from participants with different background and knowledge laying a strong foundation for the ongoing activities of the social labs. By creating a space for meaningful interactions and mutual learning, the INHERIT project aims to drive community-centered innovation and to enable the co-creation of solutions that align with the project’s objectives and the needs of the local stakeholders:

Some social lab participants emphasised the necessity of bridging the perspectives between policy makers and energy retrofit experts, in the same time highlighting the importance of aligning these viewpoints for an effective decision-making. There was also notable enthusiasm among attendees to continue their involvement in future project activities. Additionally, stakeholders underscored the value of creating synergies with other relevant events as a strategy to enhance participant engagement and to broaden project impact. Moreover, the preparatory work in the social lab kick-offs was identified as crucial for the successful organisation of workshops with meaningful outcomes. Lastly, participants stressed the critical need to involve all stakeholders in the planning process of interventions, particularly to achieve sustainability goals in historic buildings. These insights not only reflect the collaborative discussions and feedback gathered during the workshop but also provide actionable guidance for advancing project initiatives and fostering inclusive, sustainable practices.

ZSI leads work package 2 on "Stakeholder engagement, co-creation & social innovation for the heritage-built environment" of this project.

INHERIT Social Labs: First round wraps up with success

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