The sociocultural impact of adaptive reuse of immovable cultural heritage from the perspective of direct users and the local community

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose is to show the results of research on sociocultural impact – as one of the pillars of sustainable local development which can be stimulated among others by immovable cultural heritage. The research concerned two groups of respondents: the local community, which does not directly use heritage re-adopted to commercial functions and the community using the heritage in a direct way.Design/methodology/approachSurveys and in-depth interviews were used for the study. Two groups of respondents were surveyed: direct users of immovable re-adopted heritage who have the possibility to use it directly by buying services offered in the studied heritage and the local community representatives for which access to the re-adopted heritage is limited.FindingsIn the case of heritage re-adopted to commercial functions, there are differences in sociocultural impact. The very presence of heritage and only awareness of its existence in a given area is not enough for creating a sociocultural function by it in some aspects. Such heritage does not use its potential fully.Practical implicationsResults of the study may be taken into account by some stakeholders in the case of giving heritage resources contemporary functions especially commercial ones (owners of re-used cultural heritage resources, representatives of local authorities as well as entities responsible for the protection, appropriate use of cultural heritage resources and decision-making processes) to eliminate negative or insufficient effects in creating the sociocultural function of heritage in sustainable local development.Social implicationsSuggested actions undertaken on the basis of this research can increase the impact of immovable cultural heritage adapted for commercial purposes on a larger range of beneficiaries especially the local community. Hence, the extent of such heritage's impact on the sociocultural pillar of sustainable development would increase.Originality/valueSo far, studies on the differences in the sociocultural impact of immovable cultural heritage adapted to commercial, contemporary functions on direct users and no-direct users have not been conducted. Results obtained by this study supplement a certain gap regarding the sociocultural impact of heritage resources on this two groups of stakeholders: groups that have direct access to the heritage resource and groups that have no access to them or this access is limited.