MESOC is a Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action designed to propose, test and validate an innovative and original approach to measuring the societal value and impacts of culture and cultural policies and practices, related to three crossover themes of the new European Agenda for Culture:

• Health and Wellbeing,
• Urban and Territorial Renovation
• People’s Engagement and Participation.

The global aim is to respond to the challenge posed by the H2020 Call (“To develop new perspectives and improved methodologies for capturing the wider societal value of culture, including but also beyond its economic impact”).

To do so, MESOC adapts and further develops a method for “transition based” impact assessment derived from a previous UNESCO Chair publication, building a structural model of the Societal Dimension of Culture, as defined by one of the strategic objectives of the European Agenda.

As a first layer of experimentation during the project, the model will be tested within 10 European city pilots: three partner cities (Athens, Cluj and Rijeka) and seven associated cities (Barcelona, Gent, Issy-Les-Moulineaux, Milan, Turku, Valencia and Warsaw).