REGENLIFE

European metropolitan regions face mounting challenges in translating regenerative tourism principles into concrete practices. There is a growing recognition of regenerative tourism as a promising approach to enhance both quality of life, environmental resilience and territorial balance. However, tourism governance often struggles to integrate residents’ lived experiences, address socio-spatial tensions (such as gentrification and displacement) and create shared ownership among stakeholders.
REGENLIFE (Regenerative Life) establishes a European knowledge and innovation network connecting academic research, living lab innovation and practice stakeholders to bridge the gap between conceptual regenerative tourism frameworks and practical implementation. The project brings together two established European networks—the ATLAS Special Interest Group Urban Tourism and the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) Working Group Regenerative Tourism and Placemaking—creating a unique cross-sectoral collaboration platform.
REGENLIFE focuses on metropolitan regions as complex environments where tourism pressures, innovation opportunities and quality-of-life challenges converge, while strengthening connections between urban centres and their hinterlands to support balanced territorial development. Through living lab methodologies, the network creates collaborative spaces where stakeholders jointly develop, test and refine regenerative tourism strategies.
The network addresses three critical objectives: first, developing a shared knowledge base on regenerative tourism challenges and opportunities across European metropolitan regions through comparative research and stakeholder consultation. Second, strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange between research, policy and practice actors through regular network meetings, thematic workshops and knowledge platform development. Third, co-creating a joint research agenda and preparing a competitive European funding proposal aligned with programmes supporting sustainable cultural tourism, participatory governance and metropolitan innovation.
The project contributes to European policy frameworks including the Tourism Transition Pathway and European Agenda for Tourism 2030, strengthening Europe's capacity to use tourism as a driver for thriving places where residents, visitors and ecosystems mutually benefit while establishing lasting research infrastructure for future European collaboration.