Local community involvement linked to successful heritage site reuse

History · Published 2 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Researchers working on a field project in Rufoli, near Salerno, Italy, set up a local 'heritage community' by mapping historic sites, engaging key stakeholders, and forming a local working group. They found that this process was associated with renewed interest in reusing cultural heritage, stronger community ties, growing civic responsibility, and new local business activity.

The project drew on the Faro Convention's idea of a 'heritage community', in which local people take an active part in decisions about reusing historic sites, as part of a wider 'circular economy' approach to heritage explored through the Horizon 2020 CLIC project.

Because this was a single, small-scale field study in one Italian neighbourhood, it's not clear how far these patterns would hold in other places or heritage contexts.

Why it matters: Engaging local communities directly may be a promising way to help revive historic sites sustainably.

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