STARTUP - SUSTAINABLE TRANSITIONS. ACTION RESEARCH AND TRAINING IN URBAN PERSPECTIVE

ID call: HORIZON-CL2-2024-HERITAGE-01-01 New European Bauhaus – Innovative solutions for greener and fairer ways of life through arts and culture, architecture and design for all

Sapienza's role in the project: Coordinator

Scientific supervisor for Sapienza: Rossana Galdini

Department: Social sciences and economics

Project start date: January 1, 2025

Project end date: December 31, 2028

Abstract:

The STARTUP project is based on a simultaneous research and action program aimed at promoting an evolutionary process. The project highlights the critical role of cultural heritage in post-crisis socio-economic recovery and its potential to drive the transition towards a beautiful, inclusive, and sustainable environment. These principles are at the core of the New European Bauhaus, which seeks to engage citizens, institutions, and creative individuals as thinkers or agents of change to reshape a better future. The project adopts the city-making paradigm, which promotes a bottom-up, small-scale, place-based approach, introducing ethical elements into planning. By analysing specific case studies across Europe, the project aims to identify and test strategies capable of transforming proximity spaces into creative places, encouraging a high-quality co-design process. The outcomes of these actions, which we define as cultural praesidia, are considered territorial devices for local development; they serve as experimental and dynamic spaces for new urban narratives. The project explores how these places can generate innovative ecosystems. In this project, community-driven innovation is understood both as a process and a final product to foster a culture of collaboration and address real-world challenges. The ultimate goal of STARTUP is to experiment with and develop creative placemaking models aimed at the social, cultural, and physical development of local communities across Europe.