Citizens’ Participation and Cultural Urban Heritage in the World Heritage Convention (1972): the Case of Bologna, in Italy

The notion of ‘urban heritage’ will be crucial to face the challenges linked to the protection and modification of urban areas, named «groups of buildings» in Article 1 of the World Heritage Convention (WHC, 1972). The city of Bologna can be considered a pioneer in participatory governance concerning heritage, and the European ROCK Project – Regeneration and Optimization of Cultural Heritage in Creative and Knowledge Cities constitutes a clear example of it. Nevertheless, the concept of citizens’ participation, even if it is mentioned in Article 10 para. 2 of the WHC (1972), may have more relevance therein. In general, urban heritage has to deal with the contradictory paradox between local communities, engaged in the protection of place identity and societal heritage values, and economic interests, linked to the exploitation of the touristic potential which historical urban areas offer. Nonetheless, there are a lot of ambiguities that impact directly on urban heritage and its fruition: Bologna’s heritage is characterized by dynamic changes, for instance, in the fruition spaces which have a certain historical and social value such as the Porticoes (inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2021). According to the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011), modern urban conservation policies must take into account all levels of government, including public and private stakeholders (Chapter III), to better deal with urban growth which assumes the role of transformer agent in the historic urban areas. The historic urban landscape (HUL) approach may have a positive impact in managing and mitigating such impacts (Chapter II), useful to rediscover the hidden treasures of a city through direct observation of spaces, to better understand perceptions and (new) urban practices. It could provide an important example of a co-creative type of cultural heritage governance, characterized by a real contribution toward the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011), also in accordance with SDGs 8, 11, and 17. In 2022, the WHC celebrates its 50th anniversary: therefore, the main aim is to demonstrate how WHC is still a fundamental international instrument useful to activate and re-activate social, political, and environmental dynamics also at a local scale. The paper states the opportunity that the ROCK Project represents by activating a bottom-up implementation of actions able to set off a virtuous cycle, and it gives its contribution to the World Heritage Convention (1972) on promoting urban regeneration and sustainable development in historic urban contexts.