Towards local development through a sustainable valorization of cultural heritage

Silvia Cerisola (Principal Investigator)

The overarching objective of the project is providing policy suggestions to implement an inclusive and sustainable valorization of cultural heritage, aimed at making the most of cultural heritage for local development, minimizing the associated socio-economic costs. Although cultural heritage has gained substantial institutional and academic attention as a contributor to local economic development, the empirical evidence on this topic is still scant. The intangible and sophisticated mechanisms through which cultural heritage can be valorized to favor a sustainable local socio-economic development are mainly related to territorial context conditions, but up to now they have been almost neglected within the existing studies. The project aims at filling the existing gaps in the literature through a thorough regional analysis applied to Italy. Possible policies aimed at favoring a sustainable valorization of cultural heritage, also limiting the potentially detrimental effects of some types of cultural tourism, will be proposed, and carefully discussed.

Contribution to SDGs: 8, 11