The GreenHeritage project aims to integrate cultural heritage, particularly in archaeological parks, with teaching sustainability to younger generations. This initiative seeks to fill a critical gap in current education by linking the management of cultural sites to active environmental learning. By leveraging the rich histories and material examples found in archaeological parks, GreenHeritage seeks to cultivate ecological thinking through a new educational framework. Archaeological parks serve as both custodians of historical civilisations and living case studies in sustainability. However, their educational potential often remains untapped, with a traditional focus on conservation and tourism. GreenHeritage addresses this issue by transforming these sites into vibrant classrooms where sustainable practices of the past illuminate contemporary actions, demonstrating how cultural preservation and environmental awareness are intertwined.
GreenHeritage is in line with the European Green Deal’s vision for a resource-efficient and climate-neutral Europe, fully exploiting the potential of these sites to tell the story of the past, raise awareness of the present and imagine a more sustainable future. Its goal is to create a network of educators, cultural heritage managers and stakeholders from across Europe, enabling a continuous exchange of good practices and insights to promote sustainability in cultural heritage work. Strategically aligned with the sustainability priority of the Creative Europe programme, the GreenHeritage project contributes to innovation by promoting the integration of Europe’s rich cultural heritage into modern environmental management. Through this project, the silent narratives of past civilisations will allow us to retrace humanity’s journey, reflecting on ancient social, economic and environmental practices with direct implications for today’s climate challenges.
The three-year project, as far as the Park is concerned, will see activities carried out in particular in the archaeological area of the ports of Claudius and Trajan (Fiumicino) due to the strong naturalistic component that characterizes and conditions the protection, use, and enhancement of the site. The activities will be of various kinds, will be co-designed together with the stakeholders involved, and will see the creation of a video game in a Minecraft environment.