On 27-30 October 2020, ROCK invites you to join its Open Knowledge Week “Cultural Heritage Leading Urban Futures”, a virtual conference for city officers, policy-makers, urban researchers, cultural actors and civic changemakers. This digital event marks the closure of the ROCK project, an Innovation Action funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme and led by the City of Bologna, engaging 33 partners across 13 countries in exploring how cultural heritage can be the driving force behind urban sustainability.
Over the past three years, ten ROCK cities – Athens, Bologna, Cluj-Napoca, Eindhoven, Lisbon, Liverpool, Lyon, Skopje, Turin and Vilnius – have worked with service providers and knowledge brokers to test and advance numerous tools and approaches aimed at shaping sustainable, heritage-led urban futures. At the ROCK Open Knowledge Week, interdisciplinary research will meet innovative action, enabling the dissemination of knowledge and the creation of new synergies at European level.
The event offers an extensive programme of 20 sessions with 50+ speakers and hundreds of participants over 4 days. During ROCK CityTalks and Campfire Sessions held on the first three days, city representatives will present their flagship urban interventions implemented at the local level, share stories of change and discuss lessons learnt.
New insights on the nexus between cultural heritage and urban transformation will be offered by two inspiring keynote speakers, Prof. Giovanni Leoni from the Department of Architecture at the University of Bologna (IT) and Lia Ghilardi, Founder of Noema Consulting and City Mapping (UK). A reflection from the European Commission will add a policy perspective to the discussion.
Thematic Online Seminars on the final day of the conference will bring together academic experts, city representatives and local stakeholders to discuss theoretical and practical approaches to cultural heritage from three perspectives – Accessibility, Sustainability, and Innovative Partnerships, the three ROCK pillars. The afternoon programme will feature six parallel Open Knowledge Sessions, where key ROCK outputs will be presented to stimulate a dialogue between researchers and the audience.
Throughout the ROCK Open Knowledge Week, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with speakers, while ROCKnRoll Networking activities will enable them to have random one-to-one virtual meetups. Outside of the live sessions, participants will be invited to visit the ROCK Exhibition to discover virtual booths of the technological solutions developed by ROCK partners and learn about other relevant EU-funded projects focusing on cultural heritage. Welcome words by political representatives of the City of Bologna, live visual recording of sessions as well as a final Music Performance by Teatro Comunale di Bologna will bring a touch of local hospitality to the virtual sphere.
To join the ROCK Open Knowledge Week, register here. To know more about the event, click here. In case of questions, please contact [email protected]
Participation in the ROCK Open Knowledge Week is free of charge. All sessions will be held in English, with international sign language interpretation provided live.
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