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What is HERITAGE ALIVE!
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An INTERREG IIIB CADSES Initiative The HERITAGE ALIVE! project is part-financed by the European Union under the INTERREG IIIB CADSES Neighbourhood Programme (4th Call, Project No. 5D224): Priority 3 - Promotion and management of landscape, natural and cultural heritage Measure 3.1 - Protecting and developing cultural heritage. “Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H.” in Salzburg, Austria, is responsible for the project management. Project duration: April 2006 – March 2008 |
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Importance of World Heritage Sites It is the special cultural character of a region that attracts visitors and makes the local population identify with their region. The CADSES area has many World Heritage sites which can help stimulate economic prosperity, strengthen social cohesion and maintain regional identity. But this will only be realized, if the value and meaning of this heritage is communicated to visitors and inhabitants. The HERITAGE ALIVE! project partners develop, implement and transfer know-how about how to make good use of information and communication technologies to promote their cultural treasures and establish a dialogue between local people and visitors. In this work the partners understand cultural heritage to be an important factor of regional development, local/regional cultural identity and cultural tourism. Moreover the regional cultural heritage is seen as an important aspect of quality of life, sense of place and lived culture of the local people. The HERITAGE ALIVE! project partnership comprises very different regions and cultural heritage that, however, have a common goal: We want to enhance the mediation of our cultural heritage to both: the local community as well as guests and tourists. And a major element in this mediation is to involve local people – in particular, young people – in the communication of the value and meaning of the cultural heritage sites and objects. In fact, this communication should not focus only or mainly on making cultural heritage sites attractive for tourism. Rather, it is important to involve the local community in the articulation of the meanings of their cultural heritage and the role they want it to have in the further development of the region. |
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Mediating World Heritage Sites Effectively with ICT World Heritage Sites are important drivers of regional development, both economically, as they attract tourism, and socially, as a cornerstone of regional identity. However, it is often difficult for sites with World Heritage status to mediate the concept of World Heritage to their local communities and to visitors and tourists. HERITAGE ALIVE! nourishes a participatory, bottom-up approach bringing together a variety of actors, including stakeholders from the tourism sector, regional development and spatial planning agencies, local communities and local industries as well as educational and youth organisations. Most approaches to mediate the stories of World Heritage sites have utilised new media and technologies in a static, top-down fashion. This leaves little room for active community participation. In contrast to these conventional methods, HERITAGE ALIVE! seeks to engage citizens and visitors actively in a cultural dialogue to increase their awareness and understanding of the value and meaning of the heritage and its regional contexts. |
