Defining heritage governance

Welcome back! This is the second week of our course on Cultural heritage and the City!

Last week, we explained and discussed how cultural heritage is defined and the existing categories. We also talked about cultural heritage policies and mentioned some actors involved in their elaboration. This week, we will more precisely identify the key actors of cultural heritage governance. We will not only look at state actors, but also at the local and international scale. We will not restrain ourselves to the mere heritage sector. We will show that other policy sectors such as transportation and tourism can play a central role in heritage governance.

Heritage governance can vary widely depending on the institutional and socio-economic contexts. This week you will learn to compare the governance of heritage in different cities or countries.

Finally, we will also see how we can evaluate the impacts of cultural heritage projects on cities. We will talk about the economic benefits of heritage for cities, but also about how we can go beyond the mere economic impact and analyse how heritage can be appropriated by local actors, generating collaborations between different urban policy sectors.

Let us start by defining heritage governance!

Governance typically involves cooperation, negotiation and regulation. Watch this video, and you will learn the difference between governance and government.

We explain why the notion of heritage governance is useful to better grasp the complexity of the regulation and management of heritage. Heritage governance is about the relationships and interactions among different types of actors who discuss and negotiate.

Share your opinion:

Who do you think is the most legitimate actor to govern cultural heritage? The state? The city? Private companies? NGOs?