Environmental Engineering Reference
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forms of “urban centrality,” and on the other, the undeniable need to “bring
nature back to the city,” with the construction of new landscape and envi-
ronmental networks branching throughout the entire territory.
8.4.4
Cultural Networks and Heritage in the Environmental
Framework
Maria Teresa Idone
In recent years, the concept of heritage has increasingly caught the eye of
the scientific and public communities. The traditional Western idea of
her-
itage
has expanded, consequently increasing the complexity of the various
categories attributed to this concept as well as the evolution of those actions
aimed at its preservation and at increasing its worth. This change is in part
caused by the progressive convergence of the heritage with the territory and
its environmental, social, and economic fabric. The terminological shift in
focus from the object to the context—to the point that one may now speak
of
territorial heritage
—is also attributed to the notion of landscape estab-
lished by the ELC (2000); this marks a turning point that emphasizes the
need to move past single objects so as to better understand the dynamic and
coevolutionary relationships that exist with and within the territory.
The territory can be seen as a “
network of networks
.” Applying the
network paradigm to the cultural sphere has led to the creation of policies
focused on actions designed to increase the value of a given territory. In
this way, cultural resources have been inserted into the economic, touristic,
and cultural exchange circuits.
Heritage is therefore recognized as having an active role in the process
of sustainable development. At the European level, new tools have been
developed, including the
Programme of Cultural Routes
(2007), which
has become an essential tool to raise awareness of the shared European her-
itage, as well as a means to improve the quality of life and as a source of
social, economic and cultural development. International directives (e.g.,
The Paris Declaration
, 2011) also highlight the close relationship between
cultural heritage and sustainable development and promote a development
process that incorporates tangible and intangible cultural heritage as a vital
aspect of sustainability.
It is yet to be understood how the contribution of cultural heritage in
attaining sustainable development effectively manifests itself, or rather
how the actions of cultural heritage are tied to planning processes used to
guide the transformations toward sustainability. The sphere of cultural her-
itage thus becomes an interesting area within which to experiment, and
landscape ecology offers its contribution to the advancement of this aim by
acting on the notion of cultural heritage and the connection between cultur-
al heritage and planning.
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