OpenHeritage aims at creating, testing and optimising an inclusive governance model of adaptive heritage re-use and a supportive toolbox. In doing so, it relies on the consortium expertise, systematically gathered evidence from 16 thematically and geographically dispersed Observatory Cases (OC) and practical testing in six Cooperative Heritage Labs (CHL) to produce usable and transferable results.

The inclusive governance model recognises that heritage preservation and management efforts would be inefficient and unsustainable without the integrated application of interdisciplinary knowledge, multi-stakeholder cooperation and community involvement. Thus, the project’s point of departure is the need for community empowerment in the process of cultural heritage (CH) sites' redevelopment, both locally and on a broader scale, based on the concepts of heritage community and participatory culture. The inclusive governance model further calls for involving stakeholders’ coalitions into the re-use and maintenance processes, the integration of resources and the exploration of innovative business models.

The project operates with an open definition of heritage, not limited to listed assets but also involving those buildings, complexes and spaces that have a symbolic or practical significance for local or trans-local heritage communities. The overall goal of OpenHeritage is to demonstrate that abandoned or underused official and potential cultural heritage (CH) sites not only pose a significant challenge for the public and private sectors but also represent major opportunities for community cohesion, social integration, innovative bottom-up economic activities and employment creation.