The HEI-TRANSFORM transdisciplinary project will explore ways to enhance the competitiveness of Slovenia’s immovable cultural heritage (NKD) and aims to identify and integrate its potential into the green transformation process. It values heritage as a resource for a sustainable future and defines this in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

The project will involve 33 researchers from twelve disciplines: architecture, economics, sociology, archaeology, ethnology, cultural anthropology, art history, urban planning, psychology, history, geography and civil engineering. Researchers from ten research organizations, drawn from Slovenia’s three largest universities, the ZRC SAZU and the Urban Planning Institute, are brought together by the University of Ljubljana’s Interdisciplinary Inter-Faculty Institute for the Sustainable Protection of Heritage (IULzTVD), which focuses on the development of innovative sustainable practices in the field of cultural heritage protection in Slovenia.

The research planned within the framework of the project will redefine the roles of the aforementioned disciplines and yield transdisciplinary solutions that will form the basis for further research and scientific development in heritage studies. This area has been significantly neglected in Slovenian research. A review of existing fundamental research on intangible cultural heritage in Slovenia shows that heritage has been approached through the lens of its cultural and historical significance; however, a significant gap remains in research on approaches to integrating heritage into contemporary sustainable development. One key contribution of this research is its transdisciplinary nature and its move beyond past or traditional practices of (non-)cooperation between disciplines in cultural heritage conservation and management. The proposed project team ensures comprehensive coverage of all key areas, which goes beyond previous approaches.