🔍 Redefining Cities through Data and Design: Introducing the CREAConnect Florence Hackathon

As part of the CREAConnect project’s mission to empower cultural and creative Third Places across Europe, we’re excited to kick off the very first event in our Hackathon Cycle: Florence Hackathon @CREAConnect.

Over the course of three days, creatives, designers, researchers, and cultural practitioners from across Europe will gather at Impact Hub Florence, a former customs depot turned coworking space for social innovation, to collaborate, prototype, and reimagine the way we understand tourism in our cities.

Florence is a city shaped by visitors. Yet beneath the postcard-perfect surface lies a complex reality—where local life and global tourism often collide. This hackathon invites participants to explore this tension through a provocative design challenge:
How can we visualize the impact of overtourism in ways that speak to city dwellers and decision-makers alike?

Participants will tackle this challenge by combining data visualization, social design, and storytelling—rethinking how we can frame urban transformation through the lens of “temporary” vs. “permanent” citizens, and the vital role of Third Places in bridging that gap.

Following the completion of the first CREAConnect Capacity Building program, this hackathon marks a shift from learning to action. Using methods rooted in peer-to-peer learning and collaborative design, participants will form multidisciplinary teams to generate bold, community-rooted concepts.

Each team will be guided by both local and international mentors, who will offer strategic, technical, and conceptual guidance throughout the weekend.

Housed in the revitalized Ex-Dogana of Rifredi, Impact Hub Florence is more than a coworking space—it’s a thriving Third Place in its own right. Managed by LAMA Impresa Sociale, the space offers 1,000 square meters of creative infrastructure, and serves as both a daily workplace and a social anchor for a community of over 200 members.

CREAConnect’s Hackathon Cycle begins here—but the story we’re telling is far bigger than a single event. It’s about how data, creativity, and community come together to reimagine the future of our cities.

Stay tuned. This is just the beginning.

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🧭 Discover Florence’s Third Places via our digital guide: