Cultural Heritage and Territorial Identity: The Economic Consequences of Their Synergies

Abstract

Chapter 6 develops the analysis of the economic spillovers potentially derived from synergies between heritage and territorial identity. An empirical analysis is performed to test the role of territorial identity in influencing the relationship between the endowment of cultural heritage and local economic development. The findings fully support the functioning of a synergy mechanism according to which identitarian context elements synergistically reinforce the role of cultural heritage in promoting growth. Different typologies of local identity lead to different outcomes: if cultural heritage is located in a territory characterized by forms of cosmopolitanism, its role as an engine for local economic development is fully recognized, validated and effectively functioning. Awareness of a certain correspondence between individual and collective interests together with a stronger feeling of European citizenship represents the most favorable conditions for a valorization of local cultural heritage. At evidence, merging cosmopolitanism and solidarity may generate positive preconditions for local attractiveness and the appropriate mentalities and capabilities for the conservation and valorization of cultural heritage.