The Role of the Municipality in a UNESCO Site: which Mechanisms Could Leverage Civic Wealth Creation?

Purpose – Drawing from prior research on participatory governance systems suitable to Cultural Heritage interventions of urban regeneration this paper aims to investigate the role played by a local key stakeholder such as the municipality in activating those mechanisms that allow the creation of civic wealth through the lenses of the theoretical framework of civic wealth creation proposed by Lumpkin and Bacq (2019). Design/methodology/approach – The investigation of the case of Urbino (Italy) whose UNESCO management plan has been recently revised has been grounded on a qualitative-driven approach (focused on a case study method, suitable for an exploratory analysis) and using a triangulation of tools to collect information (semi-structured interviews, participating observation and secondary sources). Findings – Findings highlight that the municipality acted as an orchestrator to activate stakeholders’ engaged participation, collaborative innovation and mobilization of resources necessary to create the social, economic and communal endowments that benefit the local community. However, several gaps also emerged that represent lesson learned to be addressed in future development projects. Originality/value – In the attempt to question if and how CH can be a trigger for Civic Wealth Creation in small historical town, the paper contributes to contextualize the CWC framework proposed by Lumpkin and Bacq (2019) by identifying the role of the PA as orchestrator or at least stimulator of a participatory approach to the governance of cultural heritage as a driver for creating civic wealth.