Project description
Rural Europe’s economic woes spark innovative tourism solution
In the quiet corners of Europe’s rural regions, economic challenges persist, threatening the very fabric of local communities. Struggling with seasonal tourism and dwindling populations, these peripheral areas face an uncertain future. In this context, the EU-funded CULTURALITY project aims to revive these landscapes by unlocking the cultural and creative potential within, promoting sustainable development, and fostering year-round tourism. The intention is to nurture job creation and stable population settlement. Emphasising inclusivity, the project addresses the needs of vulnerable groups like women, the elderly, and the youth. CULTURALITY's strength lies in its collaborative, multidisciplinary approach, bringing together international teams to ensure a rich tapestry of expertise and optimal results.
Objective
The main objective of the project is to contribute to the promotion of cultural and creative tourism activities, considering the different capacities, resources, and specificities (material, creative, human...) of the territories, as a mean to help with the sustainable development of peripheral rural areas, favoring job creation and population settlement. For this, the potential of its cultural heritage will be researched, taking into account both the artisan material culture (techniques, materials, patterns and decorative elements), as well as the intangible culture (music, oral knowledge and culinary traditions) as a resource.
To promote non-seasonal tourism as a form of sustainable development with a stable population settlement we are going to research the crafts linked to the territory and their implications, but we will also carry out a documentation of the productive processes. First and foremost, we are going to cater to the necessities of the local communities and pay attention to aspects related to societal groups at risk of exclusion, such as women, the elderly and the youth.
All this will be developed from a multidisciplinary perspective, for which we will count on the various teams —most of them linked to different countries— that will be part of the consortium. Each of these partners will contribute to the development, as well as to the final result of the project through input directly related to their area of expertise: for example, among the collaborators we have intellectual teams specialized in the digitalization of heritage, research, or communication and dissemination, as well as as various institutions that will act as a testing ground for the more practical parts of the proposal. However, if something will characterize our work, it will be the constant collaboration between all parties, as well as the exchange of advice and experiences that will help to enrich collective knowledge and guarantee optimal results.
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
33003 OVIEDO
Spain