Last week, COST Action CA16114 – REthinking Sustainability TOwards a Regenerative Economy (RESTORE) organized a mid-term conference (The RESTORE Challenge), core group meeting and third management committee meeting in Bolzano, Italy.

Dr Michael Burnard, the InnoRenew CoE deputy director and research group leader for Human Health in the Built Environment, joined the two meetings and conference in his capacity as a member of the Action’s management committee.

The conference analysed, through multidisciplinary collaboration and an edutainment approach, how RESTORE is aligned (or may be better aligned) with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how the Action can effectively contribute to their achievement. The SDGs were developed and adopted in 2015 by world leaders at an historic UN Summit, where they also adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

During conference workshops and presentations, more than 50 participants from over 30 countries developed new ideas and discussed the paradigm shift towards restorative sustainability for new and existing buildings.

RESTORE Challenge workshop. Image: Michael Burnard