Regenerating your city’s heritage

What is at stake

Heritage is an essential part of a city’s identity. It many times represents the heart and soul of a place. But too often, we see historic areas abandoned, neglected and not fully embraced by the local population. The pandemic has only exacerbated this tendency and led to more abandonment, leaving once dynamic and thriving spaces, empty and destitute.

In this context, many cities are faced with the question: how do we reactivate our heritage? How can we transform it into the heart and soul of our society once again? How can we maximize its potential and bring it back into people’s day to day lives?

This does not only imply that we preserve and protect our heritage carefully, but that we must also find a way of breathing new life back into it. A life that the local population and not just tourism can fully benefit from. A life that is future-driven, grounded in contemporary problems and solutions, forward-thinking and constantly innovating. Only then can we ensure that our historic spaces will continue to prosper from one generation to the next.

The challenges, the questions

Although this may sound straight forward, it is no simple feat. If you are a city rich in cultural heritage, striving to reactivate your historic urban areas and turn them into catalysts for change, you are probably aware of the wide-range of challenges, questions and obstacles that stand in the way.

Where do you start? Where do you look for funding? Which business models should you adopt? Which stakeholders must you engage? How do you ensure success? How do you guarantee that your regenerative process is inclusive and sustainable? The list of questions goes on…

You are not alone

The good news is that others, like you, are undergoing similar processes and face similar questions.

Hub-In is an ambitious project working closely with 8 pilot cities across Europe – Belfast, Lisbon, Brasov, Angouleme, Slovenska Bistrica, Utrecht, Nicosia and Genova – that are in the thick of it, deep in the process of transforming their historic urban areas. They all have the aim of fomenting hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship, whilst preserving their unique cultural and social identity, as well as the environment.

Why embark on the journey on your own if you can learn from the experiences of others who are on the same course? Hub-In is all about creating knowledge that can be shared and expanded upon. As we work with the pilot cities to bring these hubs to life, we are compiling data, best practices, models and examples to follow, while developing together methods, tools, roadmaps and action plans.

We know that all the insights and expertise we are creating can have an impact beyond these 8 pilot cities and help many more ambitious heritage regeneration efforts across Europe.

This is why we are launching the Hub-In Alliance.

With all the knowledge that we have developed in the first stage of the project, we are ready to expand to share and exchange with more historic urban areas across the continent keen on forging hubs of innovation of their own.

The Alliance is for you if…

You are

• A municipality or a key development agency with strong links to municipalities
• A historic urban area of any shape or size: a city centre, a community, a quarter with specific historical context

You have

• Rich architectural heritage or intangible heritage in people, stories or cultural activity

You would like to 

• Use your heritage (your places, people and culture) to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable regeneration, and are at any stage of this process of delivering sustainable regeneration

You are looking for

• More knowledge around boosting regeneration, innovation and entrepreneurship in your Historic Urban Area
• Creative ways of using cultural heritage to gain competitive advantage in attracting investment, businesses and skilled workers
• A network that could help you raise your international profile across Europe and beyond
• More opportunities to network, learn from and work with other cities and stakeholders in the project to increase and intensify the transfer of knowledge

You would benefit from

• Guides and an interactive tool to business and finance models that support entrepreneurial and innovation led regeneration
• A directory of good practice in heritage-led innovation and regeneration across Europe
• Opportunities to participate in peer support, collaborative learning and knowledge exchange activities with cities undergoing the same process
• Insights into the ecosystem of ingredients needed to deliver and support innovation and entrepreneurship within Historic Urban Areas
• Insight from cities as they pilot new approaches, evaluate their impact and establish action plans
• A portfolio of educational services, mentorship and leadership training such as webinars, masterclasses, a summer school, conferences and thematic workshops

Does this sound like you?  

Then the Alliance is for you! Our network will help you boost your regeneration efforts with tools, resources, a specialized Hub-In Academy, as well as a constant exchange with pilot experiences.

What are you waiting for? Let us know you are interested in the Alliance!

For now, this does not imply any commitment. You will be invited to attend an initial webinar to hear from some of the key project partners, gain further insights about HUB-IN and help shape how this wider pool of cities will engage with the project. Subsequently, you will be able to formally sign up to participate in the project and the creation of the Alliance as an “early joiner”.

We hope to see you soon!