At the EU Week of Regions, and interactive workshop was brought together by Innocastle together with FINCH and SHARE. The three Interreg projects discussed how to manage cultural heritage sustainably, while being inclusive and engaging local communities, thus presenting some of their good practices. The recording of the workshop is here and all the presentations are here.
The Sustainable Cultural Tourism report was also introduced during the workshop by Shirley Clerkin, County Heritage Officer from Monaghan, Ireland. This report targets policy-makers, local heritage communities, heritage organisations and sites and the tourism industry. 55 recommendations focusing on Sustainable Development Goals and strategic planning are listed.
The workshop was moderated by international sustainability expert Andy Fryers.
Although heritage management solutions are developed for the conditions of a specific property or location, the good ideas behind them can be applied in different contexts. Those responsible for managing heritage assets must confront a range of challenges, and find inspiration from the expertise and experiences of colleagues, and ideally assembling a policy toolkit for their unique requirements.
The session presented ideas for managing tangible and intangible heritage. Some presentations focused on governance, such as Extremadura’s sustainability protocol or the ethical guidelines for Sámi tourism. Others talked about the preserve and convert infrastructure, like Šibenik’s fortresses and South Ostrobothnia’s public-private granary building. Some practices require very little investment to engage residents and give them a greater sense of ownership, like the National Trust’s “visiteering” programme or Laragh’s grassroots conservation community.
If you have any questions or want to keep discussing with others who participated, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We look forward to your input.
