Co-designing the solution space for rural regeneration in a new World Heritage site: A Choice Experiments approach

Abstract

This study develops a participatory multi-methodology intervention designed and deployed to support planning and management of a new World Heritage site, the vineyard landscape of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, in Northern Italy. The purpose of the study was to support community involvement in the design phase of urban regeneration alternatives. The ultimate objective was to propose practical recommendations for a sustainable regeneration strategy to the Municipal Authority of La Morra, one of the villages located within the core area of the World Heritage site.The analysis context represents a complex territorial system and a challenging decision-making environment due to the presence of: (i) conflicting needs co-existing in the same geographical area, i.e., preservation needs of the World Heritage on one side, and new development needs on the other, (ii) many stakeholders (i.e., residents, tourists, territorial authorities, tourism associations and environmental advocates), and (iii) presence of marginalized communities that are at risk due to the strong trend towards the abandonment of rural areas for big cities. Within this context, the authors propose the use of Stakeholders’ Analysis and Choice Experiments to co-design, together with stakeholders and the local community, feasible strategies for the regeneration of the abandoned rural buildings scattered across the core World Heritage Site. Indeed, the community issue of abandoned rural heritage emerged as both an important weakness of the territorial system under analysis and as an interesting opportunity for rural regeneration.The results obtained illustrate the importance of integrated approaches for the development of accountable public decision processes and consensus policy alternatives.