Civic Wealth Creation: Reinterpreting and Regenerating Historical Cities

This paper aims to understand factors and processes that leverage from tangible and intangible cultural heritage (i.e., local know-how, tacit and codified knowledge linked to arts masterpieces and cultural heritage assets but also to local crafts and tradition) to sustain citizens’ social, cultural and economic wealth. So far not enough attention has been paid about the regeneration of smaller cities which hold major artistic heritage but do not have adequate resources to leverage on it and bring positive societal impacts. The paper adopts a qualitative approach and we followed an abductive approach oriented to the generation of new concepts and the development of new explanatory lens, rather than the confirmation of existing theories. It focuses on the case of Urbino, a UNESCO world heritage site whose population and economic status is declining because citizens and businesses are attracted by the lure of higher revenues and better quality of life of nearby cities. Findings revealed that culture and artistic knowledge and capabilities that belong to the tradition of a city rich in heritage can be the lever of innovation and boost civic wealth. Searching the past for looking to the future is, however, a difficult task and divergences in vision, resistance and even political tensions are among the factors that hinder the city regeneration.