Goal conflicts create opportunities: learning from the north where green industry meets cultural heritage values

Purpose and goal

The project concerned practice-based research with learning cases in the north, where green industry meets cultural-historical values and circular economy. The aim was to identify potential opportunities, challenges and goal conflicts that follow the transition, in terms of the development of cultural heritage and the concept of circularity. Through selected usecases, the project aimed for knowledge exchange between actors (industry, public sector) in order to better safeguard cultural heritage values in the planning process, for example by testing a GIS-based approach.

Expected results and effects

The project was expected to lead to an upscaling of knowledge exchange between municipalities and companies, as well as other relevant actors with measurable impact on insights, working methods and policy. This was achieved through dialogue and a learning network, an Actors´ Forum, lives on after the end of the project, closely liaised to other relevant R&I and collaboration initiatives in the north. Use-case studies result in new knowledge at the intersection of several research areas and provide a basis for continued research, applications for funding and stakeholder interaction.

Planned approach and implementation

Based on concrete learning cases, the project explored goal conflicts and windows of opportunity within its Actors´ Forum, to realise the potential between the green industry, the industrial cultural heritage and local socio-cultural values. With a focus on learning, scaling and replication, the experiences were shared with actors that face similar problems within the transition to a green and circular economy. The multidisciplinary collaboration was fruitful and results in continued practice-based research and innovation with a focus on capacity-building in the north.