Home » Final Conference of the COST Action “Underground4Value” at the European Parliament
Final Conference of the COST Action “Underground4Value” at the European Parliament
On Thursday, September 21, the prestigious halls of the European Parliament will host the final conference of the COST Action Underground4Value, marking the end of long journey started in 2019, dedicated to unravelling the hidden treasures of underground built heritage. The project has been chaired by Giuseppe Pace, researcher at the Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development of the National Research Council of Italy (Cnr Iriss).
Underground Built Heritage encompasses various underground structures and landscapes such as caves, tunnels, mines, settlements, and associated objects and practices with historical, cultural, architectural, ecological, and archaeological significance. These sites offer valuable insights into past communities and civilisations, contributing to a better understanding of our shared human history and heritage and can act as catalyser for sustainable local development and community empowerment. Neverthless, their preservation and valorization imply relevant challenges, mostly in terms of lack of knowledge of these sites, unclear laws and regulations governing their use,difficulties in finding funding for projects and – most importantly – lack of awareness of local community, requiring careful consideration and action to overcome.
In this context, over the last four years the Underground4value Action has made significant contributions to balanced and sustainable approaches for valorising underground heritage: indeed, over 200 experts from 30 countries have collaborated, sharing methodologies, case studies, and best practices with an interdisciplinary focus, developing a step-by-step methodology – the Strategic Transition Practice – that considers the value attributed to heritage by local cultures, planning regulations, and community empowerment, a flexible and adaptable approach that has been tested in twelve case studies through living labs.
The Conference will be the occasion to discuss the main ouptus of the U4V COST Action, including:
a digital toolbox that will support local communities, private and public actors, and promoters in the valorisation, development, and management of cultural landscapes valorisation, assisting them in the decision-making process with adequate cultural, scientific and technical knowledge of the underground built environment from different aspects (e.g. archaeology, geotechnics, history, urban planning, cultural anthropology, ecology, economics, architecture, cultural tourism);
an e-learning platform that will offer training on underground built heritage and community engagement for monitoring, valorisation, and conservation.
After welcome greetings delivered by Ronald de Buin, Director of COST Association, Susana Martínez-Rodríguez, University of Murcia and U4V co-coordinator, will introduce Helena Vičič, Director of Interpret Europe. Giuseppe Pace, Cnr Iriss and U4V coordinator, will discuss the COST Action outputs and future steps, then leaving the floor to Carlo de Grandis, Policy Officer DG Climate European Commission, and to Marcos Ros Sempere, Member of the European Parliament for the Socialists and Democrats Group.
