Understanding the economic and territorial impact of cultural heritage: better investments through improved evidence collection

Building on the year of Cultural Heritage (2018 – launched in Cyprus), the European Commission has published a European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage. This Framework for Action acknowledges that cultural heritage is a common good and a shared resource which raised awareness of a common European history and values and reinforces a sense of belonging to a common European cultural and political space. The Framework for Action sets a common direction for heritage-related activities at the European level and serves as an inspiration for regions and cities in Europe. Cultural heritage is a resource for the future which must be safeguarded and enhanced and mainstreamed in other policies. Cultural heritage needs an integrated approach that cuts across a wide range of policy areas: regional, urban, and rural development, education, social cohesion, digital transformation, environment, tourism, accessibility as well as research and innovation. This wider perspective of cultural heritage requires more attention to evidence-based policy making and particularly the measurement of the impact of actions on cultural heritage. The workshop will therefore examine built cultural heritage from two main angles: the development of European and national strategies for cultural heritage and how these are linked with funding programmes such as cohesion policy monitoring and assessing the impact of built cultural heritage. For more information and registration, please visist the ESPON website.  ------ ERRIN is part of the ESPON Transnational Outreach Programme 2016-2019.