Abstract
Cultural heritage is by far a major target in the European policy agenda in the last years as it demonstrates to be a valuable driver for urban development. Though, cultural heritage is still a fragile asset, which is often either overexploited or hidden and underdeveloped. The second case makes the object of our paper, which covers the topic of a running project – ISTER ConnectIng hiSTorical Danube rEgions Roman routes, financed under the 3rd call of the INTERREG Danube program. The ISTER project addresses the challenge of Roman heritage discontinuity, reflected on one hand, by a low level of investment and connection between archaeological heritage resources and local/ regional productive sectors, and on the other hand, by the limited attractiveness of the archaeological heritage as driver for future development. The purpose of this paper thus is two-fold. Firstly, it aims at delivering an overview of recent trends in policy and regulations associated to tapping the potential of cultural heritage as a driver for sustainable development. Specifically, the paper analyses briefly the background and the subsequent changes in the European approach to cultural heritage protection and valorisation, partly as a result of World Conventions and EU directives, party, as a consequence of the adopted common guidelines proposed by international organisations such as UNESCO or Europa Nostra. Over the past decades, CH definition and the approach to its protection and valorisation have constantly evolved, leading to the contemporary vision, which highlights the socio-economic benefits of preserving Cultural Heritage and its major role in achieving sustainable development and territorial cohesion. Thus, Cultural Heritage is placed on a cross-sectoral policy framework, influencing and being influenced by many key policy domains (socio-economic, cultural, environmental, spatial). The second purpose is then to explore the road from the international and European policy framework to the landscape of local laws and practices in several case studies along the Danube Region and beyond, following the main Roman Route from Porolissum (ancient Roman city currently located in Sălaj County, RO) to Rome (IT). Specifically, a comparative analysis of national/ regional/ local policy and regulatory frameworks will be conducted for the cities of Cluj-Napoca and Alba-Iulia (RO), Ptuj and Ljubljana (SLO), Rome (IT), as well as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg regions (DE). Finally, the paper discusses the added value (if there is any) of the internationally-promoted guidelines related to cultural heritage to the locally-adopted laws and tools for its protection, valorisation and use. The last section of the paper summarizes the main findings with special attention on the Danube Region context in Europe.
