Co-creating heritage: bottom-up planning for heritage management in rural areas

The last two decades have witnessed a marked turn in the heritage management debate towards the social values of cultural heritage. This could be considered a result of several ongoing processes, for example political de-colonisation and democratic aspirations, economic refocusing of development processes, and reflexive, post-modern criticism in social science research. These changes have led to alternative approaches to cultural heritage, ranging from recognition of a multiplicity of pasts, through the analysis of power relations between experts and marginalised groups, to the recognition of cultural self-determination as a human right, as stated in the Fribourg Declaration 2007.

Our project's primary objective was to open up a space for dialogue between local communities and heritage professionals facilitating meaningful engagement and knowledge exchange in a two-fold way: a) by promoting informed participation for the non-specialist public in heritage management and landscape planning, and b) by providing heritage experts with a clearer view of the local cultural values at play. 

To facilitate this objective, we used data from our previous AHRC-funded Unlocking Historic Landscapes in the eastern Mediterranean project (2006-7), which created a GIS-based Historic Landscape Characterisation for Naxos. These data were operationalised through the CHeriScape perspective (and particularly the challenges to participatory engagement they outline), using the innovative RESCAPER mobile application and other creative methodologies. Our Naxos case-study engaged with local stakeholders, communities and individuals to formulate a collaborative management document for the area and derive an adaptable toolkit for collaborative heritage management and planning.

Results

Από τα μνημεία στα τοπία. Η αγροτική κληρονομιά της Νάξου ως πολιτιστική κληρονομιά υπό δημιουργία. Ναξιακά 8(2019): 243-255. http://bit.ly/ruralnaxos

Heritage in the making: The poetics of rural heritage and its mnemeiosis on Naxos island, Greece. Journal of Rural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.04.021 ​

Can cultural economy be social? Discussing about the rural heritage of Greece. The Greek Review of Social Research. Εθνικό Κέντρο Κοινωνικών Ερευνών. https://doi.org/10.12681/grsr.24827​​

Co-creating the future of rural heritage: An empirical application of the Nominal Group Technique to Naxos, Greece, International Journal of Heritage Studies 29(4):  294-313 https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2023.2181376