Stakeholders' consciousness of cultural heritage and the reconciliation of different needs for sustainable development

Abstract Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the approach and tools adopted by an Italian city, included amongst the UNESCO World Heritage sites (WHS), to involve different stakeholders in the protection and valorisation of its historical centre to achieve the goals of sustainable development. The paper focusses on the role of local authorities as the key actors that should engage different city users to jointly achieve heritage conservation and socio-economic development. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected, thanks to the researchers’ direct participation in a project launched by the municipality of Urbino, which involved several local stakeholders and lasted about a year. Participant observation allowed the authors to collect informal interviews, join collective discussions and reflect on the direct observation of the activities undertaken. Findings – The case study analysed suggests how participatory governance may be effective in fostering responsible principles in “asset usage” by any type of city users and how citizens actively co-design and coimplement initiatives of heritage revitalisation when engaged in cultural heritage (CH) policies. Originality/value – The paper addresses a long-standing problem that has never been solved: how to enhance the consciousness of the CH amongst stakeholders and reconcile their different and conflicting needs in the historical urban environment in the process of revitalisation. Keywords Stakeholder engagement, Cultural heritage, Sustainable development, World heritage, Participatory governance, Historic cities, Historic urban landscape, UNESCO Paper type Research paper