Conserve and Innovate Simultaneously? Good Management of European UNESCO Industrial World Heritage Sites in the Context of Urban and Regional Planning.

Abstract

This paper addresses the general theme of conservation and/or change of heritage sites in urban and regional planning. The particular focus is on the management of UNESCO industrial World Heritage sites in Europe. Industrial heritage refers back to historic innovation and continues to be embedded today in innovation-orientated urban and regional development. The question that our study examines is: In which aspects does the management of an industrial World Heritage site coincide with (or differ from) that of areas of innovation? We identified criteria both for the management of industrial heritage sites (“Good Practice Wheel”) and areas of innovation (success factors for European Science and Technology Parks). In an online survey, we asked managers of heritage sites to evaluate management criteria. Completed survey responses were obtained for 22 of 38 European sites (58%) in 12 of 15 countries concerned (80%). Our study clearly shows an overlap of conservation and innovation priorities even in the management of UNESCO industrial World Heritage sites, and underlines the importance of integrative, “good” heritage management.