Zero-Impact Cultural Heritage Event Network
Zero-impact cultural heritage Event Network – ZEN is a project aimed at developing a shared methodology to reduce the impact of events and festivals in historic centers and on cultural heritage through the exchange of significant experiences and lessons learned by the particpating partners. All over Europe, events and festivals have the ability to draw positive effects on tourism, cultural diversity and local economy but they also have critical impact on local context and, more in general, on the environment. In the UK alone, it is estimated that live music events produce 400,00 t Co2 annually and a 2007 survey carried out by the University of  Buckinghamshire on behalf of A Greener Festival on 649 festival goers in Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands found out that 80% were concerned about noise, 82% thought waste had a negative impact, 84% were worried about the impact of travel and transport,  60% expressed concern about water and land damage.
The same survey found out that 42% of respondents believed that the responsibility for minimising these damages lies with local authorities, as many of the negative effects of events are felt immediately at local level, with increase in noise and air pollution, waste production, pressure on transport and infrastructure and damage to fragile cultural heritage.
Based on these data, the main focus of ZEN is to work with different know-how and experiences to provide common solutions at EU level dealing with the reduction of these negative effects on urban settings of cultural and artistic significance and that will provide a roadmap to manage and protect cultural heritage in occasion of open-air events that attract large numbers of people. The findings of the project will be transferred at policy level through the development of an implementation plan for each participating region, and by assuring:  A)exchange of experiences and best practices among all PPs, based on  individual
know-how and on  experiences to be researched  in European regions and transferred to the PPs; B) development of a common approach at strategic level to manage the effects and impact of events on historic centres and cultural heritage; C) involvement of the local communities, both public and private stakeholders, in order to share the project’s aims and to make local actors as active participants in the process; D) diffusion of the project’s results. ZEN partnership consists of local and regional authorities, Universities and Business support centres who are involved with events and festivals in different ways, and that are often responsible for co-financing and guaranteeing public services. Their inputs will be valuable  to address the common problems and the opportunities that arise from a future, ‘zero-impact’ approach to events and to interface with those communities who are the primary beneficiaries, but also the most affected by the effects of events in their territories