Excellence for integrated heritage management in central Europe
Damaged and neglected historical buildings, not renovated for years, or abandoned, are a common feature of the whole of central Europe regions. In the view of this challenge, amplified by the lack of public funding and strategic planning, the ForHeritage project promotes excellence in heritage management by capitalising on existing knowledge from previous projects related to integrated approaches for the effective management of cultural heritage sites and buildings. These integrated approaches imply the application of innovative tools worked out in 4 previously funded EU-projects (FORGET HERITAGE, RESTAURA, IFISE, CLIC): management plans, citizen involvement guidelines, state of the art of financial instruments, PPP models, circular financing and business models, among others. The complexity and novelty of these tools didn’t allow for their practical implementation in the past. The ForHeritage project exploits existing tools and experiences following a down-streaming approach which will push results into the practice of regions. By focusing on socio-economic aspects in management, the ForHeritage project is willing to fill the gap with regard to the capacities of regional and local actors responsible for heritage management. As much as the technical aspects of conservation are important, there is a need to enhance managerial and socio-economic approach to heritage. Otherwise the risk of decay of heritage becomes inevitable.
The ForHeritage project brings together 8 partners from 4 central Europe countries: Croatia, Italy, Poland and Slovenia. In each of these countries, a local or regional authority and a supporting organisation participate to jointly capitalise on outputs from previous EU projects, whose implementation at the local level remains below expectations, thus transnational cooperation is needed.