Smart rural heritage along tourism routes
Project SHELTER originates from the problem represented by the abandonment and degradation of historic rural buildings in the Italian-Austrian cross-border area. A significant issue, that has such consequences as the increase of hydro-geological risk and the decrease of biodiversity, the loss of productive land and of a rich cultural heritage. To confront this problem, the project aims at joining the conservation of buildings with the development of the mountain landscape, recovering exemplary cases of abandoned heritage to insert in the existing network of hiking and cycling routes, combining it with local association and production activities. SHELTER will start from the knowledge base offered by past European projects for the sustainable recovery of historical rural heritage. Experimenting this know-how, infrastructure works will be implemented for the recovery of buildings and paths to support a new use of heritage and to sustain local development, accompanied by participation workshops with the population. In this way a catalogue of building solutions and a set of indicators will be defined, which will be disseminated between administrations and enterprises through meetings with sector and trade associations. In short, the project will develop tools and test new functionalities for the recovery historic rural buildings and their landscape, supporting their conservation and sustainable use in the current context.