Coastal cultural heritage: a management tool

Abstract

Two parallel processes have marked coastal realities in many parts of the world. The former process consisted in the design and the dissemination of integrated coastal management programmes and actions consistent with the prescriptions from Agenda 21, and from the relevant guidelines by inter-governmental and local organisations. The latter one consisted in the increasing importance that coastal cultural heritage has acquired either in the social perception of coastal reality, and in the prospects of driving coastal systems towards sustainable development. Hence, the need of framing the coastal cultural heritage into coastal management programmes, strategies and actions tailored to the principle of integration, which is the key word of the Agenda 21 approach, has come to the fore, and gained importance. To meet this need, the Guidelines for management of coastal cultural heritage, dealing with conceptual and methodological frameworks, and designing operational approaches were worked out for the use by decision-makers, managers and planners on the local scale. The Guidelines, which by now are available in the Italian language, have multimedia features and interactive properties, and are available in a CD-ROM format. They were devised in the framework of the Progetto Finalizzato Beni Culturali (Special Project for the Safeguard of Cultural Heritage) convened by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (the Italian National Research Council). This paper aims at introducing their relevant background stimuli, their features, and their cardinal use criteria.