General

Cooperative Heritage Labs function as adaptive reuse laboratories of OpenHeritage. Based on the experiences (know how) of the Labs the project works on ways to include the local community on equal footing in the practice of adaptive reuse, as well create transferable governance and financial models for the same purpose. The database will allow comparing the legal and institutional environments with the actual practice of adaptive reuse.

The Labs are set up in various geographical regions and cover various heritage types situated in urban, peri-urban and rural areas. There is a former working class neighbourhood in Warsaw (Poland), a manor house in Prädikow (Germany), a peri-urban heritage site in Lisbon (Portugal) a main street in need of redevelopment in the industrial city of Sunderland (UK) to an archaeological park in on the fringes of Rome (Italy) and a natural heritage site in Pomáz, situated in the agglomeration of Budapest (Hungary). An important common denominator among the Labs is that they are all situated outside of main urban and touristic centres and are not directly profiting from the booming tourism and “heritage industry”.

The activities focus on community and multi-stakeholder involvement, resource integration and regional/territorial embeddedness.