Equitable RESilience solutions to strengthen the link between CUltural landscapEs and coMmunitiEs

ongoing

Our common heritage is a central element of our communities and economies, and a principal but vulnerable dimension of our common identity as Europeans. It has been proven that cultural heritage contributes to well-being, social cohesion, identity, local economy, territorial attractiveness, and environmental sustainability, but the climate crisis and natural hazards endanger this heritage. We propose RescueME to take immediate action for demonstrating how an innovative data-driven, community-based, heritage-centric actionable landscape approach to resilience enhancement can protect our cultural heritage and landscapes while supporting the transition toward a green society and economy that sustains resilient, cohesive, nature-connected communities. RescueME proposes a call for action, broadening the scope, triggering action, untapping and mobilizing resources, engaging actors, and facilitating the decision making and the implantation of co-created just resilience solutions to protect our common heritage. RescueME will develop, test and demonstrate the effectiveness of an Actionable Framework based on the Resilient Historical Landscape approach (RHL) complemented by data, models, methods, and tools able to assess risks and opportunities, co-develop inclusive and just resilience strategies and innovative solutions to protect European cultural heritage and cultural landscapes from climate change, disaster risk, as well as other stressors (such as pollution and over-tourism) with special focus on European coastal landscapes since a large share of this endangered heritage there. The five case studies (Psiloritis in Creta, Neuwerk in Hamburg, Portovenere, Cinque Terre & the Islands, València and the city of Zadar) have been selected carefully as complementary representatives of European coastal landscapes. They will act as resilience landscape laboratories (R- labscapes), validate the results and ensure their replicability.