ReLib · Reimagining Libraries as Civic Learning-Living Labs

Southern-European cities face rising urban heat that reduces public-space activity, and weakens community interaction. These pressures also pose a democratic challenge: young people often lack civic competences essential for active citizenship, while higher education struggles to embed them in curricula. At the same time, public libraries, though accessible and climatically comfortable, offer untapped potential to act as civic public spaces for community interaction, learning, and resilience.Reimagining Libraries as Civic Learning-Living Labs (ReLib) explores how libraries can be transformed into hubs that foster civic competences, social cohesion, while offering survival support in extreme heat. ReLib maps Cypriot libraries’ readiness, co-designs with stakeholders a civic learning course at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) Library, and pilots it in Cyprus and the Netherlands. Using design-based research, ReLib generates transferable evidence and an open-access toolkit for universities, libraries, and civic actors to strengthen civic education, their collaboration, and activate public spaces as living-learning hubs.The fellowship will be hosted at Delft University of Technology (TUD) under Prof. Ingrid Mulder, with secondments at CUT Library, supervised by Mr. Marios Zervas. Training covers civic learning design, participatory facilitation, climate resilience, and research leadership, supported by TUD’s mentoring and career support, consolidating Dr Eleni Pashia’s expertise for academic and applied leadership in civic learning and social innovation.By advancing civic learning, activating libraries as resilient spaces, and introducing a scalable, low-cost model for repurposing public assets, ReLib delivers scientific, societal, and economic-service innovation impacts. Aligned with the European Education Area, the New European Bauhaus, and Horizon Europe Missions, ReLib supports a resilient and sustainable Europe.