The success of HeRe Lab lies in its multidisciplinary team, made up of professionals dealing with a wide variety of fields such as World Heritage, urban planning, architecture, art history, development, and economics.. The University of Florence acts as a catalyst for their involvement, through the participation of different faculties in the Lab and in the use of holistic approaches for the creation of sustainable solutions for challenges affecting the historic centre. The Lab has also played an important role in advocating for sustainable strategies in the development of the city, by taking into account urban green spaces, social inclusivity, tangible and intangible heritage protection, economic growth, sustainable tourism, as well as the requalification and enhancement of architectural elements.
The involvement of professionals with diverse backgrounds is the result of the participation of different faculties of the University of Florence, by means of the Council Deliberation n. 506/2015, which formalised the inter-institutional partnership between the University and the Municipality of Florence. Each faculty contributes through its own pool of professionals, researchers and resources.
The Departments involved are: Architecture; Economics and Management; and History, Archeology, Geography, Fine and Performing Arts.
The pool of professionals working for and in collaboration with the laboratory has allowed for a more comprehensive understanding of the significance of the site, its attributes and challenges. This has also contributed to the establishment of sustainable solutions aimed at addressing the issues affecting the site considering the wider urban context through the application of methods and research from different disciplines.