Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development E-Learning Program First Videoconference

1. Cultural Heritage and Sustainable DevelopmentE-Learning ProgramFirst Videoconference Prof. P.L. Scandizzo University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

2. Heritage and Development The nexus between heritage goods and development is difficult to establish, both positively and normatively. Because they are a source of identity for local communities and a focus point for art cities and cultural districts, heritage goods may be instrumental for developing the inner potential of a regional or a subregional area. More generally, heritage goods can be considered the visible part of the historical, social and cultural capital accumulated over the centuries. As such, they can be important catalysts in the processes of economic and social development.

3. Culture and Development Heritage goods and cultural goods in general are public goods, since they can be shared and carry recognized collective values. However, they have peculiar properties that distinguish them from most public goods. Some of these properties are : (i) the degree to which their experience can be shared depends on the extent to which they have been experienced in the past; (ii) the quality of experience that they provide depends on their historical and esthetical importance, but also on their capacity to generate emotions and to appeal to imagination; (iii) they carry universal messages for present and future generations .

4. What Is Cultural Heritage? According to UNESCO, physical culture includes monuments, structures, works of art, or sites of "outstanding universal value" from the historical, aesthetic, scientific, ethnological, or anthropological point of view. Within this broader definition, cultural property is defined as sites and structures having archaeological, paleontological, historical, architectural, or religious significance, and natural sites with cultural values. This definition is used in the Bank's Environmental Assessment Sourcebook (World Bank 1994). The World Commission on Culture and Development also subscribes to this definition. The World Heritage Convention (administered by UNESCO) recognizes both built and natural sites as parts of the common heritage of humanity. Within this context, the term cultural heritage refers to both material and non-material culture.

5. What Is Cultural Economics? Cultural Economics regards culture as an economic activity and an engine of economic development. For this purpose, we refer to the product of culture as “cultural goods” (for example, monumental, archeological and historical goods, which constitute the heritage of previous generations). We also call culture the production and the communication of ideas, of life models, of interpretations of the world and of linguistic structures which, in a more general way, characterize a community.

6. Why should culture be crucial for economic development? • Culture is a source of individual and collective identity: it enriches and consolidates the social capital of a particular community. The group of rules, of procedures, of reciprocal feelings that are recognized by members of a social group, forms the social capital of that group. • Culture is not an “intentional” good: it can flourish only if proper social conditions are determined, as the indirect product of other human and civil actions, in essential conditions of freedom.

7. Why should culture be crucial for economic development? The crucial problem is to create a sustainable accumulation of cultural goods. To do so, it is necessary to carry out an informed, strategic and systematic management of cultural and artistic heritage, stimulating the creation of a network and synergies between the institutions and all the agents involved. It is also necessary to develop local abilities of combining culture and economic development, that is, to form and inform agents of the region concerned, so that they are able to operate effectively in this direction.

8. Why should heritage goods be important for economic development? • Heritage goods (HGs) are fiduciary goods: they are experienced under a relationship of trust with institutions and communities • HGs are a focus point for local networks based on material culture • HGs qualify and direct tourists and casual visitors

9. What are the main challenges to use heritage goods as instruments for economic development? • Heritage goods (HGs) cannot be the object of trivial uses or as mere attractions for tourists • HGs should not be separated from local communities and culture • HGs should be managed as public goods with personal significance and high contingent value

10. What are the main challenges to use heritage goods as instruments for economic development? • Heritage goods (HGs) are components of complex cultural realities • Their conservation and provision should be part of an overall,long term strategy

11. What are the main challenges to use heritage goods as instruments for economic development? • HGs should be managed efficiently, in a financially sustainable way • They should be conserved and maintained • They should be studied and developed as key economic resources