Full Title of the Project:

Complex Participatory Reconstruction of Urban Structures

Project Overview:

Between March 2022 and February 2025, the ComPaRe – Complex Participatory Reconstruction of Urban Structures project addressed the devastation caused by the earthquakes in central Italy (August 2016 to January 2017), with Accumoli as its case study. Its mission was to renew decimated urban centers – not only physically, but also socially, economically, culturally, and spiritually. It united multiple disciplines around reconstruction through participatory education.

Consortium and Context
Led by the University for Continuing Education Krems (Austria), the project consortium included key partners: Sapienza University of Rome and University of Camerino (Italy), Masaryk University (Czech Republic), Czech Technical University and ITAM CAS (Czech Republic), Slovak University of Technology Bratislava (Slovakia), and Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary). Accumoli served as a physical and symbolic context, with its historic town center.

Objectives and Approach
The project aimed to develop, refine, and validate teaching methods and tools for real-world, complex reconstruction tasks. It trained educators and students in skills missing from traditional curricula but critically needed in post-disaster contexts. A core goal was to foster civic engagement, intercultural competence, and active citizenship by involving local communities, authorities, and stakeholders in the educational process.

Activities and Methodology
Over the project’s life, it held two short-term joint staff training events, two intensive programs for educators, two for higher-education learners, and three transnational project meetings, accompanied by multiplier events and intellectual outputs. Activities were grounded in participatory mapping, collective memory, and on-site engagement, informed by local knowledge from Italian partners.

Results and Final Outcomes
The project produced foundational educational and technological outputs. The principal deliverable was the IO3 Implementation Manual for Study Programmes on the Reconstruction of Destroyed Urban Structures, offering an interdisciplinary framework for reconstruction that was technically robust, culturally respectful, and socially inclusive—a transferable resource for higher-education curricula.

Other key results included IO2 Design and Testing of the Educational Programme on Complex Participatory Reconstruction of Destroyed Urban Structures, a curriculum on holistic reconstruction after natural and man-made disasters, that emphasized the integration of advanced digital tools – such as laser scanning, drone photogrammetry, and interactive mapping – to document and visualize post-disaster damage and cultural memory, and to support community dialogue and decision-making.

Intellectual Output 1, the OI1 Knowledge Basis for Transdisciplinary Education, laid the foundation for the ComPaRe project’s integrated and interdisciplinary approach to reconstruction after disasters. It focused on developing structured knowledge, methodologies, and tools applicable in both academic and professional contexts, using the historic town of Accumoli (Italy) – severely damaged in the 2016 earthquake – as a central case study.

Long-Term Impact
ComPaRe cultivated new teaching methods and pedagogical tools, built intercultural and social resilience competencies, and encouraged critical thinking about urban resilience. It bridged the gaps between authorities, researchers, educators, and communities, promoting a holistic understanding of destroyed urban heritage—essential in a future increasingly shaped by climate and societal disruptions. The Accumoli case study now provides guidelines for civic engagement and heritage protection, enabling a broader reconstruction culture across Europe.