Tourism, Leisure and Cultural Heritage: The Challenge of Participatory Planning and Design

Abstract

This chapter is about democratization and citizen participation in the management of cultural heritage. Although heritage is often perceived as a domain of experts, it is key to the daily lives of citizens. Increasingly, as in nearly all sectors of society, citizens demand a voice in the definition and management of heritage, and in the development of planning alternatives and design solutions, amongst others with regard to tourism, leisure and recreation. Here, heritage planning meets a UN sustainable development goal, that of inclusive and equal social justice. Government agencies, heritage professionals and spatial planners are already beginning to open up to the public, aiming to increase inclusiveness, and heritage tourism and recreation is accessible to larger sections of society than ever. However, there is much debate, but little research, on current concepts, tools and procedures for democratization in the access to and definition, appropriation, management and planning of heritage. It is the explicit aim of the EU-funded Project Heriland to explore such concepts, tools and procedures in a series of laboratory contexts throughout Europe, both urban and rural. The Heriland Project is an International Training Network (ITN), funded through the EU Horizon2020 Marie Curie Action (GA 813883; 2019–2023). It is a collaboration of VU University Amsterdam, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Goteborgs Universitet, Universita’ degli Studi Roma Tre, Technische Universiteit Delft, the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and 16 associated partners from all over Europe. In this chap. I present one of these labs, that of the so-called Ecomuseo della Via Appia, in a rural context in the southern Italian Apulia region.