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Exploring participatory heritage governance after the EU Faro Convention

Laia Colomer (Heritage and Society, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Oslo, Norway)

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development

ISSN: 2044-1266

Article publication date: 29 November 2021

Issue publication date: 23 November 2023

301

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the key Faro notions of “heritage community” and “democratic participation” as defined in the Faro Convention, and how they challenge core notions of authority and expertise in the discipline and professional practice of cultural heritage.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines notions of “heritage community” and “democratic participation” as they are framed in the Faro Convention, and it briefly introduces two cases (Finland and Marseille) to explore their application. It then focusses on the implications of these two notions for heritage administration (expertise) in terms of citizen agency, co-creation of knowledge and forms of decision-making processes.

Findings

The Faro Convention favours an innovative approach to social, politic and economic problems using cultural heritage. To accomplish this, it empowers citizens as actors in developing heritage-based approaches. This model transforms heritage into a means for achieving socioeconomic goals and attributes to the public the ability to undertake heritage initiatives, leaving the administration and expert bodies as mediators in this process. To bring about this shift, Faro institutes the notion of “heritage communities” and fosters participative governance. However, how heritage communities practise participation may follow different paths and result in different experiences due to local and national political circumstances.

Originality/value

The Faro Convention opens up a window by framing cultural heritage within the realm of social and democratic instrumentality, above and beyond the heritage per se. But it also poses some questions regarding the rationale of heritage management (authority in governability), at least as understood traditionally under official heritage management discourses.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

In addition to thanking the journal editor and two anonymous referees for their constructive feedback, the author is grateful to her colleagues at NIKU Paloma Guzman and Joar Skrede, who provided valuable feedback at different stages of this manuscript. She would like to recognise Ángel Portolés-Górriz (University Extension Programme Patrimoni, Jaume I University) and Prosper Wanner (Council of Europe’s Faro Lead Expert) for commenting on an earlier draft of this article, and especially for their generosity in sharing their experiences and thoughts regarding the Faro Convention.

Citation

Colomer, L. (2023), "Exploring participatory heritage governance after the EU Faro Convention", Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 856-871. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-03-2021-0041

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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