European Research Initiative for Sustainable Creative Hubs

European Research Initiative for Sustainable Creative Hubs (ERISCH), an initiative of the Real Estate and Art and Sustainability professorships of Hanze University of Applied Sciences, addresses the growing importance of creative hubs as essential assets of local and regional cultural infrastructure. Creative hubs not only provide affordable workspaces for artists and creative professionals, but also function as socially and spatially embedded environments that foster community engagement, placemaking, cultural innovation, informal learning, and sustainable creative practices. Because of this, hubs improve the competitiveness of regions and pave the way towards achieving sustainable development goals, as well as playing a vital role in Europe’s transition towards resilient cities, inclusive society, and a circular economy.
As European cities face increasing pressure on real estate and affordable space, municipalities need better tools to articulate the social, economic, educational, and environmental value generated by creative hubs. ERISCH responds to this need by examining creative hubs as both place-based communities and pedagogical environments, focusing on how everyday use, governance models, and spatial embeddedness generate public value and transformation. The project adopts a transdisciplinary, practice-based research approach, working directly with creative hubs, municipalities, and creative professionals. Through comparative European case studies, ERISCH identifies best practices in governance, long-term spatial security, and circular pedagogies. Central to the methodology is the development of a shared framework for articulating the value of creative hubs to support a dialogue between hubs and policymakers.
ERISCH builds a European network of research institutions, hub operators, facilitators and sector networks. This network enables knowledge exchange, strengthens collaboration between research and practice, and lays the foundation for a European research consortium. By bridging societal, pedagogic, and sustainability agendas, ERISCH supports more informed policy and decision-making and contributes to resilient, inclusive, and circular urban development in line with European research and policy priorities.