Deniz Ikiz Kaya

The Living Labs (LL) constitute an important part of the THETIDA project (Technologies and methods for improved resilience and sustainable preservation of underwater and coastal cultural heritage to cope with climate change, natural hazards and environmental pollution), as they function as collaborative spaces for dialogue, where participants access the cultural heritage values of the pilot sites, identify associated hazards and vulnerabilities, and evaluate their broader cultural, socio-economic, and environmental impacts on local communities.For the archaeological site of the Castle of Mykonos, one of the three coastal pilot sites of the project, with successive use as a settlement since prehistory, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades organized two Living Labs in Mykonos.The first Living Lab Dialogue brought together cultural heritage experts, scientists, local authorities and local stakeholders to engage in this collaborative process. Apart from cooperative decision making among national and local authorities, the second Living Lab Dialogue aimed to raise awareness among young people.The main goals and objectives of the LL Dialogues included:Integrated heritage and climate risk assessment: Analysing the historical and cultural heritage values of the Castle of Mykonos Town, identifying its strengths, weaknesses and threats, stating management and community involvement limitations, legislation and protection policies, and identifying climate-induced risks and their impacts on the site.Training and raising awareness: Presenting the THETIDA project, scientific knowledge on monitoring tools for Cultural Heritage Protection, conducting an educational program for the young members of the local community and knowledge exchange with stakeholders on the impact of climate change on cultural heritage.Co-creation: Sharing personal experiences and observations, discussing the pilot site’s risks and threats, future scenarios, crisis management approaches, and possible solutions to climate hazards and impacts, aiming to facilitate interaction between authorities and local stakeholders.Testing of THETIDA tools and technologies: Demonstrating the Crowdsourcing app (AR, 3D model of the Paraportiani area) and collecting feedback for its possible use and implementation of the collected data. Discussion on how digital tools can support management and monitoring in cultural heritage sites against climate change impacts.One of the Living Labs’ main challenges was engaging the diverse range of stakeholders from various sectors, essential for raising awareness on the natural and climate-related hazards posed to the site, sharing sector-specific knowledge, perspectives, and valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with the Castle of Mykonos Town pilot site. Their active involvement was also essential to establish faster, more efficient communication between them.Participants acknowledged the cultural, historic, and economic value of the Castle of Mykonos Town and highlighted the importance of combining innovative digital monitoring tools with citizen science, offering specialized stakeholders involved in heritage management direct feedback, without the need to visit the pilot site.Strategic planning for the prevention and mitigation of climate change impacts on cultural heritage indicated the necessity for scientific knowledge exchange, active involvement of local communities in public discourse, collaboration and coordination among different sectors and authorities and the effective involvement of local authorities in building roadmaps and decision making.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to cultural and natural heritage across marine and coastal ecosystems. Multiple risks interact, cascade, and/or compound broader environmental, socio-economic, and cultural impacts on tangible (places, structures, ecosystems, etc.) and intangible heritage attributes (values, socio-economic activities, etc.). These risks arise from exposure, vulnerability, and responses to such impacts. For example, the physical materiality and integrity of underwater cultural properties are threatened by changes in water temperatures and acidity levels, compounded by extreme weather events causing strong waves and currents, which disrupt livelihoods tied to tourism and fisheries and provide conditions for looting and unregulated diving. This study adopts an empirical, value-based, and stakeholder-driven approach to identify, assess, and map these complex risks and their interactions. As part of the THETIDA Horizon Europe project that aims to develop an integrated risk monitoring, preparedness, and management mechanism for underwater and coastal heritage sites, the Living Labs methodology has been employed in the pilot sites. Through public-private-people partnerships, the Living Labs engage relevant national and local stakeholders and community groups to identify values, determine impacts, and assess exposure, vulnerability, and responses. This stakeholder-driven complex risk mapping methodology relies on the framework for complex climate change risk assessment that includes response as the fourth determinant of risks, together with hazard, exposure, and vulnerability [1]. In addition, it builds upon the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) for World Heritage, which employs a systematic and value-based approach to assess the climate vulnerability of shared values and attributes of cultural and natural properties [2]. Building upon CVI’s two-stepped procedure targeting to assess impacts on heritage values and communities, this complex risk mapping framework adopts a similar process to determine:Risks to heritage values: The heritage values attributed to the sites are identified. Moreover, their vulnerability, exposure to risks, and the impacts of key hazards and climate stressors on the sites are assessed. Risks to heritage communities: The heritage communities (stakeholders) and their socio-economic and cultural connections to the sites are identified. At the same time, their vulnerability, exposure to risks, and collective and/or institutional responses to climate-induced impacts are being evaluated. This paper will present this innovative complex risk mapping framework and its preliminary implementation results in one of the THETIDA underwater sites. These sites include the Ottoman shipwreck in Paralimni, Cyprus, and the Second World War airplane wreck off the coast of Algarve, Portugal.The complex risks posed to underwater heritage sites and their interactions remain largely underexplored in the existing literature, limiting the adoption of inclusive strategies to address them. This value-based and stakeholder-driven complex risk mapping framework outlined here enables a comprehensive assessment of risks and impacts on heritage values and communities. While initially tested for underwater sites, this framework provides a systematic methodology that can be applied to all heritage types, making it highly relevant for decision- and policy-makers working to safeguard underwater and coastal heritage.Acknowledgement: This research has been funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation funding under Grant Agreement No: 101095253, THETIDA project.References: [1] DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.03.005[2] DOI: 10.5070/P536146384

Coastal and underwater cultural heritage play a crucial role in local and regional cultural resources. However, this tangible cultural heritage is under threat due to extreme weather events, changing conditions caused by climate change, natural hazards, and environmental pollution. This study aims to understand how end users (entities or people related to or who interact with heritage sites ) perceive these risks and what they need to better cope, adapt, or be resilient to the anticipated changes. Additionally, it explores how science can address the needs and requirements of local and regional end users.This research is part of the larger THETIDA project, focusing on technologies and methods for improved resilience and sustainable preservation of underwater and coastal cultural heritage, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The THETIDA project concentrates on seven pilot sites, comprising coastal locations such as Svalbard in Norway, Ijsselmeer in the Netherlands, Mykonos in Greece, and underwater sites including Algarve in Portugal, Gallinara and Spezia in Italy, and Paralimni in Cyprus.The THETIDA team conducted surveys to analyze threats, needs, and preservation requirements for each pilot site, incorporating data from consortium partners and workshops held with local stakeholders in several pilot sites. The results identified material deterioration and human-induced development interventions as primary threats. Essential needs include assessing risk and exposure to various hazards, implementing conservation measures for buildings and sites, and promoting awareness, education, and training.Survey responses unanimously emphasize the critical requirement for site assessment and risk evaluation concerning both human-induced and climate changes. These findings offer valuable insights for developing tools and services within the project to support local and regional end users. Furthermore, they underscore the importance of fostering a scientific culture among communities, a role that science centers and museums can fulfill, as verified during the 2023 Portuguese Science and Technology Week.Finally, the resulting end-user ecology is integrated into the Living Lab methodology, another facet of THETIDA Project research, aiming to co-create, test, and validate a new crowdsourcing tool in real-life contexts. Acknowledgement: This research has been funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation funding under Grant Agreement No: 101095253, THETIDA project (Technologies and methods for improved resilience and sustainable preservation of underwater and coastal cultural heritage to cope with climate change, natural hazards and environmental pollution). Authors would also like to acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) to CIMA through UID/0350/202

Climate change can have detrimental effects on biodiversity and people’s livelihoods and communities. Extreme weather conditions triggered by climate change significantly impact cultural heritage that represents tangible (i.e., historic sites, cultural landscapes) and intangible (i.e., knowledge, cultural practices, oral traditions) assets, especially in coastal areas and underwater sites. Inclusive risk monitoring, preparedness, and management are necessary to identify and ward off additional threats, and to promote inclusive and sustainable adaptation and safeguarding of the heritage sites. Stakeholder and end-user engagement is gaining ground in risk mitigation and monitoring impacts of climate change to support co-creation processes for climate adaptation strategies. Stakeholders often have valuable knowledge, insights and expertise, and their engagement allows collection of diverse perspectives and data, which can lead to better-informed decisions and identify potential risks and opportunities. However, it can also be difficult to establish collaboration and open communication among different actors and parties. This paper presents the potential of Living Labs (LL), a participatory social innovative methodology, that functions as multi-stakeholder platforms. LL create interaction spaces in which multiple stakeholders and end users collaborate in creating new solutions to complex problems. This paper presents the initial stage of development and testing of the LL methodology to be implemented in seven pilot sites of underwater and coastal heritage across three different Europe oceanic climates that are vulnerable to varied impacts of climate change. Results present common challenges in the identification of diverse range of stakeholders and their engagement in co-creation processes of value and impact assessment, decision and future making, as well as testing and validating of a new crowdsourcing tool in real-life contexts. The goal has been building inclusive multi-stakeholder communities for establishing sustainable participatory processes for co-designing and co-creating risk assessment and adaptation strategies that take sociocultural values at their core. For this purpose, a LL toolkit has been developed that compiles different sets of tested methods that have been applied in the case studies adaptable to local contexts. This paper will show the outcomes of a training workshop and the preliminary results of the adopted and tested LL tools and processes in which stakeholders from pilot sites identify heritage inherent values based on sociocultural relationships. Results highlighting diverse understandings of climate impacts and challenges but are also expected to show a shift on peoples’ perspectives when providing meaning to climate change impacts. Such insights and feedback are discussed in terms of strengths and weaknesses that are unique to the site, as well the LL methods and tools employed in each site. Such exercises are increasingly needed to customize participatory methods adapted to fit integrated multiple hazard assessment tools and strengthen sustainable pathways for cultural heritage management. Overall, these processes will contribute to better understanding of the complexity of climate impacts, not only on heritage, but also in related social dynamics. Acknowledgement: This research has been funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation funding under Grant Agreement No: 101095253, THETIDA project.

Climatic risks and natural hazards pose a serious threat with long lasting impacts on cultural heritage, as well as on people’s livelihoods and connected communities. It is therefore considered of major importance to better understand the multivaried impacts of climate change on coastal and underwater cultural heritage through the active involvement of scientists, citizens and other relevant stakeholders in citizen science to engage them in data collection and involve their diverse perspectives, reflections and relationships with heritage for multi-hazard and risk monitoring.This study focuses on exploiting the full potential of digital solutions together with co-creation and co-design processes through citizen science, crowdsourcing and participatory Living Lab methodologies. The main goal is to help citizens identify the values of coastal and underwater heritage, to understand the risks, and engage them in monitoring the changes and documenting the impacts of climate change and natural hazards on the heritage elements to collaboratively develop sustainable preservation and adaptation strategies. An immersive mobile application will be developed to raise awareness to citizens and their communities about digitalization and its benefits for cultural heritage protection and preservation. The proposed technological advancement exploits Augmented Reality (AR) technology to seamlessly integrate in-situ and remotely sensed data, effectively bridging the gap between valuable underwater cultural assets and a broader audience, that may not have had the opportunity to experience them otherwise. The digital solution is being co-designed and co-developed with citizens and their communities exploiting immersive crowdsourcing techniques using user-centered applied research and open innovation approaches. It employs crowdsourced techniques to promote the appreciation of the tangible and intangible heritage assets, empowering communities to actively participate in preserving and showcasing their cultural treasures. Citizens will be able to share their feedback, observations, comments and other data considered relevant to establish their unique point of view. The mobile application will then facilitate the demonstration and visualization of sensed data obtained by underwater and coastal crowdsensing units provided to the community (e.g. fishing boats, divers) to inform about environmental parameters, providing a comprehensive understanding of heritage dynamics and potential risks. Finally, the proposed digital solution will enhance citizen engagement, creating immersive experiences through AR features that bridge the gap between the past and present, fostering a deeper connection between people and their cultural legacy.The immersive digital solution is being co-developed with seven different demonstration sites across Europe and will also be made available to a large stakeholder community at the end of 2024 for the first iteration of user feedback. Together, these functionalities establish a powerful tool for the proactive management and protection of heritage while actively involving and raising awareness among connected communities.Acknowledgement:This research has been funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under THETIDA project (Grant Agreement No. 101095253) (Technologies and methods for improved resilience and sustainable preservation of underwater and coastal cultural heritage to cope with climate change, natural hazards and environmental pollution).

Climate change and natural hazards pose significant threats to heritage sites, with major impact on people's livelihoods and connected communities. Increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions have a substantial detrimental impact on cultural heritage (CH), both on tangible assets (e.g. monuments, historic buildings, and sites), and intangible elements (e.g. knowledge, cultural practices, and oral traditions) that are inherited from the past. Factors contributing to the deterioration of heritage sites are attributed to sea level rise, ocean acidification, intensified storm activity, temperature elevation, and coastal erosion that put significant stress on the stability, preservation, conservation, and security of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage in underwater and coastal environments.However, limited knowledge exists on risk assessment and protective measures actions to mitigate these multiple hazards and complex risks posed by climatic conditions and natural disasters. This highlights the need for more integrated assessments that consider the collective impacts of various hazards on cultural heritage and their corresponding protection systems. It is therefore of significant importance to employ and test the effectiveness of novel measures across a spectrum of heritage sites threatened by various climatic conditions and risks.Addressing these two points, the THETIDA project focuses on the development of a preventive conservation strategy that includes monitoring, risk preparedness and management, for underwater and coastal CH. The main objective is to identify and ward off climatic risks and natural hazards and promote adaptation, reconstruction, and other post-disruption strategies to restore normal conditions to the historic area. THETIDA project also emphasizes long-term strategic approaches to adapt to climate change and to wield policy tools for economic resilience. This is achieved through an interdisciplinary team of researchers, experts and practitioners that will develop, test and validate an integrated multiple heritage risk assessment and protection system with evidence-based monitoring frameworks, innovative tools and instruments and through participatory and crowdsourcing processes. The project actions will be implemented at seven pilot sites across the European continent, linking social innovations with state-of-the-art technologies, including ICT and IoT harmonised tools, to enhance resilience of underwater and coastal heritage sites.Acknowledgement:This research has been funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under THETIDA project (Grant Agreement No. 101095253) (Technologies and methods for improved resilience and sustainable preservation of underwater and coastal cultural heritage to cope with climate change, natural hazards and environmental pollution).

The adaptive reuse of cultural heritage is a heritage conservation and urban development strategy that supports circularity in the built environment. A human-centred circular city approach that places cultural heritage adaptive reuse at the core of the transition to circular economy takes into account complex values inherent in cities and their heritage as part of the circular economy agenda. To better understand the challenges to adaptive reuse processes and practices in order to come up with the best solutions and recommendations, the local, regional and national stakeholders involved in the decision-making processes for adaptive reuse policies and practices were consulted to identify the main barriers to adaptive reuse, suggested solutions and to formulate a multi-level toolkit and policy enablers to facilitate and accelerate adaptive reuse in local contexts. This knowledge base thus has a dual purpose: to inform the formulation of the circular instruments and models, and to constitute the first step to formulate policy-related enablers and strategies to tackle these barriers at local, regional, national and global levels. The main barriers to adaptive reuse identified predominantly focus on governance-related issues, followed closely by economic, social, and legislative barriers. The underlying parameters of the identified barriers also served as an initiative for formulating policy solutions and a complex set of toolkit recommendations to tackle these challenges. We identified 18 policy enablers that can be adopted at European, national, and local levels. By raising awareness and building consensus on barriers among relevant actors involved in adaptive reuse, this research also promotes the transition towards a proactive attitude in adaptive reuse practices worldwide.