Conventional notions of place and identity influence the narratives surrounding the climate transition, further exacerbating the alienation from nature and heritage, and accelerating processes of commodification of a creative self and its social relationships.
These stereotypes shape perceptions of regions and nations, places, and communities in relation to their environmental responsibilities and vulnerabilities. Moreover, reified and commodified notions of identity play a pivotal role in shaping climate narratives through collective victimisation and individual guilt predicated on cultural, social, political, or national stereotypes.
These stereotypes can lead to biased policies and hinder the development of equitable solutions. Therefore, it is crucial to address systemic issues and challenge existing power dynamics by questioning the conventional boundaries between urban and rural settings, traditional and contemporary cultures, and established residents and newcomers.
Critical and conceptual thinking enables an approach that, rather than just responding through adaption to the threats of the climate crisis, emphasises strategies of exaptation by radically repurposing existing capabilities, knowledge, and connectivity.
The arts and creative practices provide a flexible, inclusive, and intuitive framework for the practical, conceptual, and ethical challenges of exaptation and repurposing. Co-creative repurposing processes allow participants and stakeholders to perceive their own and others’ contributions, open up new perspectives and reinvent possible use scenarios and experiences, while deconstructing tautological notions of place and identity.
In that sense, the act of co-creating and radical repurposing unlocks the potential of disrupting a linear sense of belonging and its redundancies by enabling multiple forms of connecting to places and being part of communities.
Specific challenges for PACESETTERS main target groups:
- For artists and creatives: Developing techniques to radically repurpose existing resources, local expertise, heritage knowledge, and translocal synergies
- For researchers: Assessing the intrinsic value of these techniques by documenting their specific qualities, requiredcompetences and transversal skill sets
- For policymakers: Strengthening creative confidence and the will to create change while pointing to forms of bias
For finance and investment: Formulating mitigation strategies for high-risk investments into sustainable andtransformative value propositions arising from radical repurposing and aiming at creative subsistence.