Bridging planned conservation and community empowerment: Portuguese case studies
Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
ISSN: 2044-1266
Article publication date: 8 January 2018
Issue publication date: 5 June 2018
Abstract
Purpose
In the present-day context of a sharp decrease in economic and ecological resources, planned conservation and community empowerment are key strategies for sustainable heritage management, because of their cost effectiveness, increased preservation of authenticity and socially development. However, there are still very few practical implementations, so the purpose of this paper is to present applied research to real case studies, as well as to demonstrate that preventive-planned conservation is increasingly successful when linked with the empowerment of local communities and users.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a methodology that focuses on two complementary aspects: planned conservation (material component) – undertaken directly on buildings, through inspection, monitoring, maintenance and repair activities; community empowerment (intangible component) – afforded indirectly to users, through participatory strategies and training in prevention, maintenance and use.
Findings
Based on an estimation of costs, this paper suggests that preventive-planned conservation strategies (pre-damage) can be one-third cheaper than the reactive and interventionist approach (post-damage). Moreover, this study also develops innovative ICT tools for the planned conservation of the built heritage, namely a specifically designed computer software/App (“MPlan”) that can be used to compile maintenance plans.
Originality/value
The case studies are among the first applications of preventive-planned conservation strategies to the built heritage in Portugal. Different types of case studies are provided to better illustrate the methodological approach adopted and the results obtained. Special attention is given to the Romanesque Route, a cultural itinerary with 58 monuments (monasteries, churches, bridges, towers and a castle). illustrated manuals contribute to the empowerment of local communities and users.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE 2020 – Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI) – and by national funds provided by the FCT under POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007744 and FCT IF/01501/2014. The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Rota do Românico, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, ICOMOS Portugal and the Heritage Care project.
Citation
Ferreira, T.C. (2018), "Bridging planned conservation and community empowerment: Portuguese case studies", Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 179-193. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-05-2017-0029
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited