DESCRIPTION

The EU GREEN Blended Intensive Programme “Context Design Applied to the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity – UNESCO. Designing the Cultural Heritage of Food” invites students from design, architecture, and communication to explore how shop windows and urban displays can communicate cultural heritage and sustainability.

Building on the previous edition in Mérida (Spain), this programme focuses on Parma, a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, as a living laboratory where food culture, craftsmanship, and design innovation intersect. Students will investigate how shop windows, food displays, and local exhibitions can act as micro-museums of taste, telling stories of identity, tradition, and innovation.

The programme promotes transdisciplinary collaboration between partner universities — the University of Parma, the University of Évora, the University of Extremadura, and Atlantic Technological University — combining product, visual, and spatial design with architecture and heritage studies. Students will co-create design proposals reinterpreting Italian gastronomy for contemporary audiences.

Through virtual collaboration and on-site activities, participants will design and prototype window installations that reinterpret local food and craft heritage as drivers of cultural regeneration and green transition. Outcomes include co-designed prototypes, visual narratives, and a public urban exhibition in Parma, supporting the dissemination goals of the EU GREEN Alliance.

Key topics
Food as tangible and intangible cultural heritage Display, exhibition, and retail design, Visual communication in local foodscapes, Product and packaging design, Sustainable materials and local production, Food heritage and tourism narratives.

Learning outcomes
Students will analyse cultural heritage as a design context; apply sustainable, transdisciplinary methods; collaborate in international teams; design and prototype heritage-based displays; develop narrative communication strategies; critically reflect on design’s role in the green transition; and curate and disseminate results through exhibitions and digital formats.

Methodology
The programme combines design-based learning, lectures and guided visits, hands-on workshops and design sprints, and a blended format with online preparation, an in-person workshop week, and remote follow-up.