Heritage and local development 

Heritage and local development

PRÉSENTATION

Natural heritage, as well as tangible and intangible cultural heritage, constitute valuable resources for territories. These resources can be enhanced for cultural, social, and economic purposes, particularly in the field of tourism. However, in the current context of globalisation, competition between territories on cultural and tourism grounds, the overtourism of some sites and under‑visitation of others, climate change, and the depletion of natural resources, the enhancement and exploitation of heritage have diverse impacts. It is therefore essential to question the sustainability of heritage when it is considered as a lever for local development.

The core issue addressed by this course is to design a sustainable local development strategy based on the responsible, sustainable, and eco‑conscious enhancement of these territorial resources.

OBJECTIFS

• Understand and identify the different types of heritage resources.

• Assess the degree of “heritagisation” of these resources, particularly among institutional stakeholders and local populations.

• Develop, based on participatory and inclusive territorial diagnostic analyses, a sustainable local development strategy focused on heritage.

• Propose inclusive and sustainable processes for the enhancement and interpretation of heritage on site, in museums, or in interpretation centres.

CONTENUS

• Key concepts related to heritage, archaeology, and museums: their history and recent developments.

• How to identify, quantify, and categorise heritage resources, and assess their degree of heritagisation.

• Key notions linked to inclusive local development, participatory heritage, solidarity tourism, and the integration of sustainability into heritage‑related issues; overview of the history and evolution of these concepts.

• Participatory and forward‑looking methodologies to conduct diagnostics on heritage as a driver of local development, and to propose concrete courses of action.

• Tools, concepts, and methods for participatory enhancement and animation of a territory through heritage, by co‑designing an operational project with cultural, economic, and tourism objectives, including financial planning.

• Focus on participatory heritage enhancement experiences and sustainable territorial promotion in the cultural, economic, and tourism spheres.