The ecomuseum as a platform for territorial development: the case of Greek ecomuseums

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ecomuseums are ‘in situ’ museums of the community addressing the relationship between people, society, space and time. An ecomuseum is based on structured narratives on selected themes through which the specificity and uniqueness of a place can be captured, conveyed and highlighted, and the participation of local people in the management of their local resources and decision-making can be strengthened, offering opportunities and prospects for quality economies and territorial development. The present study concerns the case of the Greek ecomuseums and aims at their comprehensive recording and evaluation, which has not been done so far. The findings testify that in Greece despite the fact that quality economies are being present in domestic ecomuseums, a common vision of territorial local development has not yet been formed/implemented, unlike the rest of the European Mediterranean countries. This is due to reasons related to community participation, to the linkage between production-processing-tourism-culture-sports, to the cooperation of institutional actors and to their sustainability management.