T-Factor challenges the waiting time in urban regeneration - i.e. the time in-between the adoption of the masterplan and its actual realization - to demonstrate how culture, creative collaboration and wide engagement can unleash vibrant urban hubs of inclusive urban (re)generation, social innovation and enterprise.

T-Factor explores the potential for collaboration and creativity to use meanwhile spaces – areas of the city that are temporarily vacant whilst awaiting development - to support local people and publics to co-create temporary interventions that are meaningful and valuable to local communities and that can inform future provision, prototyping permanence.

All T-Factor’s partners are united by the common intent to reframe urban regeneration as a ground for negotiating (and aligning) public and private interests, towards sustainable urban development.

T-Factor's overall approach will work internationally, as a community of practice, delivering an innovative city-mentoring model which will create multiple collaborations between the pilot cities, connecting and advancing cultural and creative hubs, universities, enterprises and social organizations partnering the project.
It will shape an international movement of capacity-building and knowledge co-creation for ‘transformative meanwhile’ in urban regeneration leveraging heritage, culture and creativity.

The project targets early stage regenerations in a diversity of historic urban areas including Bilbao, Amsterdam, Kaunas, Milan, Lisbon and London.

Culture and creativity will facilitate engagement and collaboration with local and diverse actors, to help enrich and steer the masterplan towards heritage and culture-relevant innovation and social and cultural integration.

A ‘learning by making’ process will contribute to inform the development of masterplans across the six European pilot site , consolidating, adjusting and providing new directions of urban development rooted in shared goals of sustainable city-making – involving people from a range of professional backgrounds across the world.

T-Factor applies and develops a participatory city-making methodology based on a collective, collaborative and creative action of prototyping futures in the meanwhile. This process is supported by a ‘transformation agency’ and thematic Transformation Labs (mini think tanks) addressing the following topics:

• Arts, Culture & Creativity
• Industry 4.0 and STEAM Agenda
• Citizens-led Smartness
• Urban Design for Sociality and Well-being
• Circular and Collaborative Economy
• Social Innovation
• Social Inclusion, Megacities and Climate Change.

The T-Labs will support experiments that combine Lab themes with heritage, culture and creativity; focussing on how prototypes can maximise good growth, wellbeing and ecological regeneration.