ROCK. Cultural heritage leading urban futures
TASO played a significant role in ROCK [Regeneration and Optimisation of Cultural heritage in creative and Knowledge cities], a Horizon 2020 Innovation Action of 10.6 M€ with the ambition to take forward the state of the art on heritage-led urban regeneration. Along 44 months, ROCK focused on historic city districts as extraordinary laboratories to demonstrate how cultural heritage can be a powerful engine for sustainable development and innovation-led growth. It was based on a Role Model/Replicator approach. “Role models” are cities which have successfully pursued a heritage-led urban regeneration, able to mentor “replicator cities» on their current strategies in this field. The final goal was to refine a European pattern on heritage-led urban development and regeneration.
ROCK brought together a unique consortium including 10 cities (Bologna as project leader, Lisbon, Skopje, Lyon, Turin, Liverpool, Athens, Vilnius, Cluj-Napoca and Eindhoven), 2 city networks (Eurocities and ICLEI), 7 Universities, as well as a number of business associations, tech firms and knowledge partners. In this framework, TASO took the lead on three different tasks. The first was a systematic exploration on how to make the most of heritage when branding & marketing the contemporary city, through a series of advanced seminars on innovative city branding. Second main task was a pioneering research aimed at better placing cultural heritage at the smart specialisation strategies – report at this link. The third task was about trying a regulatory framework, as an assemblage of key policy recommendations and regulatory issues aimed to facilitate cultural heritage valorisation as a driver for sustainable urban growth.
ROCK fue una Acción Innovadora dentro del Programa Horizonte 2020 centrada en los centros históricos como laboratorios para demostrar cómo el patrimonio construido puede ser un motor de regeneración y de desarrollo económico para toda la ciudad. Se desarrolló mediante el método role model/replicator, donde los “modelos” son ciudades que han desarrollado experiencias de éxito con capacidad de ser transferidas. TASO fue uno de los 3 equipos consultores integrados en un partenariado amplio compuesto por 10 ciudades (Bologna, Athens, Cluj-Napoca, Eindhoven, Lisbon, Liverpool, Lyon, Skopje y Torino), 7 Universidades y redes de ciudades como Eurocities e ICLEI.
