Using Underground Built Heritage as catalyser of regional development: Evidence from the COST Action Underground4value

Defined as "Three types of building activities, namely architectural, urban and landscape heritage be-low the surface of the earth, which the contemporary generation resolves have "cultural values" (Pace, 2019)", the Underground Built Heritage can be considered a sub-category of built heritage, and part of the wider cultural heritage category, as interaction between people and place through time. As historic landscapes, they differentiate from the Built Environment, especially in understanding of what this resource is, why is a value, and how can catalyze development. To understand UBH as a resource, a central concept is the ecological landscape and the challenges related to the underground. From the ecological point of view, the underground has been little studied, and no real landscape has been defined - however, these landscapes have structures, organisms, habitats, and networks, generated by a never-ending system of interactions between human activities and natural phenomena. To understand these interactions and reconnect social sciences to physical sciences, there is a need for ecological competences. Underground is also part of our daily life, and many activities are moved there. To be sustainable, planning should consider underground landscapes as part of the local community values. To become a catalyst for development, we must change focal point to the entire human environment. That demands for changing community behaviors and creating transitions towards sustainability, that is, complex and uncertain processes, which should Involve more people in preservation efforts, raise levels of awareness, and seek innovative schemes. The COST Action Underground4value is about all this, by promoting UBH as a valuable resource to preserve and valorize to support local communities' development. The Action is active from May 2019 to October 2023 and has the objective to establish a Network to promote interaction between experts and local communities, disseminate innovative thinking, and support them to explore alternative social trajectories. During the first two years, (2019-2021) the action analyzed and assessed eight case studies in seven countries. For each of them, a Scientific Mission was organized and a living lab with the local community established. Specifically, we analysed the impact of establishing a Living Lab on three main components: the UBH values, the planning process, and transition process. If LL impact was clearly positive on sharing information and making communities aware of values, it was very limited and absent for planning. The governance, on the contrary was substantially improved, although it is too early for a full assessment on the outcomes.