Nicosia’s HUB-IN: connecting people and places
The Action Plan aims to implement a set of actions needed to regenerate and enhance the historic urban area
Nicosia’s HUB-IN strives to make the Cypriot capital a powerhouse of culture and innovation-led transformations.
In addition to the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974 and the following division of the capital, Nicosia is dealing with the economic crisis and still recovering from the pandemic. Among other things, these challenges left many abandoned, unmaintained, and aging buildings, unused vacant lots, and evolving pockets of social exclusion.
The municipality has been heavily investing to reverse the abandonment trends and is proactive in supporting its historic urban area (HUA) by creating the right circumstances, attracting funding resources and supporting the sustainable transformation of the HUA.
Culture and creativity are the essence of our city’s character and social fabric with significant impact on cross-cultural understanding and heritage preservation. Regeneration of the historic part of Nicosia within the Venetian Walls will enhance life in the divided city, promoting new ideas and inspiring innovation across various sectors – Constantinos Yiorkadjis, Mayor of Nicosia
FOUR MAIN ACTIONS WILL TRANSFORM NICOSIA INTO A VIBRANT TOWN
The proposed Action Plan for the city of Nicosia follows from a roadmap that the city has previously co-created with local stakeholders to identify the overall vision, values and missions of the envisaged HUB-IN Place. The project can significantly impact the City’s objectives and challenges. Thus the proposed HUB-IN Action Plan for Nicosia:
- Aims to contribute to and enrich the broader regeneration of the walled city both in terms of its tangible and intangible heritage assets as a focus for the creative industries and more sustainable tourism
- Is fully aligned with the Spatial Development Strategy (SDS) of the Municipality promoting innovation and the cultural and creative industries and their importance towards making Nicosia a more vibrant city, attractive to both citizens and visitors.
- Will further develop and fully exploit both the ‘Digital Twin’ tool and the smart City Strategy as key opportunities and aids to the successful heritage-led regeneration of the HUA.
The four actions selected aspire to illustrate a new approach to attracting new businesses. This is a challenge in Nicosia as there is uncertainty about the future of the area and how real estate will develop considering the division and the property issues. Also, the actions recognise the creative community as an important agent for the regeneration of the city and they emphasise their shared interests requiring coordinated collective participation in the process. The actions at the core of the Nicosia HUB-IN are:
Action 1 – Setting the Digital Stage – will involve the development of a platform/website that will include existing and updated information for the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) to contribute to the development of the CCI sector, as well as entrepreneurs, businesses and other relevant elements in the HUA.
Action 2 – Heritage Walks and their Twins – will involve the design and implementation of different walking routes within the walled City, promoting neighbourhood pride.
Action 3 – Activations of the Hub: Interacting and Engaging – will include a set of relevant activities with different but complementary purposes, from upskilling local artists and craftsmen to establishing HUA Ambassadors.
Action 4 – Creation of a CCI startup acceleration programme – will facilitate cultural entrepreneurs and artists to professionalise and create sustainable and scalable business practices.
These actions will also serve the purpose of testing services and programs that can be replicated and improved, assuring the continuity of stakeholders’ engagement and the feasibility of the hub in the mid-term.
Nicosia’s Hub of Innovation will not be a specific physical location, but rather become the umbrella to connect and showcase the strong elements of the HUA, aligning and connecting heritage, culture, community, memories with proofing the city, taking on international motives yet having a clear and solid link to the historical lineage of the city population.
Learn more about the project here.
