Cultural Heritage valorisation: policy recommendations

ROCK deliverable on Regulatory Framework, ROCK Procurement and Policy Recommendations is available

The ROCK regulatory framework has been envisaged as an assemblage of key policy recommendations  empowering Cultural Heritage (CH) as a driver for sustainable and smart growth, with a special reference to public procurement. Its development is an attempt to shape better implementation frameworks, targeting decision and policy makers from all administrative levels. The ROCK deliverable “Regulatory Framework, ROCKProcurement And Policy Recommendations” is now published (see it here the Resources section of the website).

The big challenge in the process of its development was to embrace the multifaceted nature of CH valorisation, which is inherent to CH-led urban development and regeneration and the ROCK circle model. Moreover, the focus had to be kept on four key supportive policies – culture, urban policies and space provision, economic frameworks and taxation settings, and environmental protection – plus a number of cross-cutting issues concerning public procurement and emerging monetary and non-monetary support tools.

For each of these areas, the report identifies main challenges, a selection of good practices and a set of remarks and recommendations, capitalizing the experience of the role model cities and the practices tested in the replicators as well as other findings of the ROCK project.

This analysis allowed to identify 5 overarching challenges to overcome and 11 cross-policy recommendations for an effective and sustainable cultural heritage valorisation in cities:

Overarching challenges

1. Governance - Challenging international, local and multilevel governance frameworks.
2. Protection rules – Somewhat rigidity of rules for protection.
3. Capacities - Lacks in skills, capacities and resources as well as enforcement power.
4. Side-effects – Missing rules, measures and data to avoid undesired side-effects.
5. Fragmentation – Fragmented frameworks for professional cross-sectoral cooperation.

Cross-policy recommendation

1. Decentralisation – Ensure multilevel governance platforms on local level.
2. Equilibrium – Generate a balance of regulations and flexibility.
3. Accessibility – Guarantee shared cultural heritage and fair use of public space.
4. Integrative Approaches – Regulations to reconcile needs from both residents and visitors.
5. Transversality – Support cooperation between cultural heritage and other sectors.
6. Evidence – Ensure appropriate impact assessments in cultural heritage valorisation projects.
7. Participation – Guarantee cultural and civic rights in regulations.
8. Finance – Address the systemic underfinancing of cultural heritage.
9. Leverage – Apply new public procurement instruments.
10. Training – Understand that specific skills and qualifications are required.
11. International – Address the international and European dimension of cultural heritage valorisation.

Many ROCK partners contributed to the development of the regulatory framework, namely Julie´s Bicycle (UK), Fondazione Fitzcarraldo (Italy), Urbasofia (Romania), University of York (UK), Eurocities, ART-ER Attrattività Ricerca Territori (Italy), Liverpool City Council (UK), Lisbon City Council (Portugal) and ICLEI Europe (Germany). The work was chaired and coordinated by TASO (Spain), in particular by its expert Sylvia Amann.

Download an overview of the report below.

Author: Rivas Miguel - TASO