Cultural Kaleidoscope: Designing Tourism for All Citizens

Tourism is a major cultural and economic asset in Europe, yet many destinations remain inaccessible and unsustainable. Historical centres, museums, and cultural landscapes often exclude people with disabilities, while local communities and young citizens are rarely involved in shaping tourism. 
The EU calls for innovations reflecting the New European Bauhaus values beauty, sustainability, inclusion and the Green Deal.
The Cultural Kaleidoscope project addresses this challenge by developing a replicable methodology for inclusive cultural tourism that enhances accessibility, sustainability, and community ownership. Cultural destinations become living laboratories where citizens, visitors, institutions, and designers co-create a new tourism model that is welcoming, environmentally responsible, and socially embedded.
Citizen participation is central. Young people and persons with disabilities act as co-creators through participatory design sessions and rapid prototyping. Innovations include wooden signage with QR codes for multilingual digital guides, 3D-printed tactile documentation for visually impaired visitors, and a Cultural Kaleidoscope Toolkit compiling methods, insights, and prototypes for other towns.