Publication

Report on the Prague Platform on 'Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age'

One of the 60 priority actions included in the European Framework for Action aims at reinforcing EU leadership and capitalising on it in the global arena on innovative aspects of heritage policies. In 2019, in order to jointly develop concrete solutions, the European Commission launched a series of conferences over a two-year period on the future of heritage, intended as global problem-solving platforms. These platforms, each with a different theme, involve national governments and their agencies, key global institutions, experts and young global leaders.

The platforms will help disseminate the results of ongoing experimentation and research among cultural heritage institutions and stakeholders, and in the field of social policies. This report relates to the second platform that was held on the 7th–8th October in Prague, – “Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age”. Two locations were utilised for the platform, the Dominican Baroque Refectory and the National Library of Czechia.

This is the purpose of the Platforms project: creating a moment of exchange among a wide variety of participants coming from diverse backgrounds, bearing unique visions, skills, and experience, to engage in an exercise of collective intelligence to develop solution-oriented proposals on specific, key fields where cultural heritage may continue to make a difference in the future. In its entirety, the project will consist of several appointments, each one on a different key topic and taking place in a different European capital, ideally drawing out a full cycle of proactive reflection that covers a wide spectrum of innovative, policy-relevant issues calling for attention, fresh ideas, and joint commitment from institutions, stakeholders and communities worldwide. The scope of the project therefore cuts across different policy areas and communities: culture, research, education, innovation, with a special focus on younger generations in view of the future on which and for which it is built.

The first Platform, devoted to the relationship between heritage and social innovation, took place in Dublin in April 2019. It experienced a broad level of participation and generated many valuable insights. This first event confirmed the hypothesis that the idea of a solution-oriented initiative may be useful and timely. Now is the moment to proceed further.

The second area on which the project focuses is the digital sphere, which is currently a frontier for research, experimentation and development of new models and practices in the heritage field. But this relationship goes far beyond the digitisation of heritage, or the potential of new digital platforms for expanding our capacity to experience heritage. It offers the possibility to reconstruct and re-live what had been lost, or more generally to boost the sensory and emotional impact of heritage-related experiences, and our capacity to connect experience and data, so as to allow a more profound, moving, and motivating approach.

The connection between heritage and the digital sphere may be regarded as a frontier of innovation, which can attract new generations of creators and technologists into a field where Europe has, and can further reinforce, a distinctive positioning and a recognized leadership at the global level. This can pave the way for new jobs, companies, and forms of cultural, social and economic value for local communities, while at the same time reinforcing and rejuvenating the relationship between heritage and European territories.

The digital sphere may be a powerful accelerator of change, which fully harnesses the potential of heritage as a source of cultural, social and economic value. However, for this to happen the right conditions have to be created. The digital revolution is very recent, and we still have to learn how to establish the right dialogue between the quickly changing hi-tech landscape where new technologies and tools keep on flowing in, and the heritage world that is accustomed to think in terms of historical time and long durations.

The digital sphere may be a catalyst that offers the possibility to re-define and even to re-purpose our relationship to heritage, to turn it into an organic, living reality that seamlessly connects to our processes of thought and imagination. This powerful synthesis requires a clear frame of mind and carefully chosen fields of experimentation and practice. Europe must be prepared to tackle this demanding challenge, and this Platform aims at providing very concrete insights and ideas on how to achieve this.

For this Platform, three areas were identified that span some of the key issues that mark the complex relationship between heritage and the digital sphere:

the dynamic relationship between digital and the intangible heritage;
the dialogue between heritage and digital technological innovations as a source of local inclusive growth and smart specialisation;
Digitally-enabled audience development as a form of active cultural participation.

Working on these three lines, the platform on Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age brought a fresh impetus to both digital innovation and the heritage communities of experts, professionals, and practitioners, opening up collaboration between the two spheres on an unprecedented scale.

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The final report, executive summary and the conclusions and recommendations can be downloaded using the links below:

Download Final Report

Download Executive Summary

Download Conclusions and Recommendations

Report on the Prague Platform on 'Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age'

February 13, 2020

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For this Platform, three areas were identified that span some of the key issues that mark the complex relationship between heritage and the digital sphere:

the dynamic relationship between digital and the intangible heritage;
the dialogue between heritage and digital technological innovations as a source of local inclusive growth and smart specialisation;
Digitally-enabled audience development as a form of active cultural participation.

Carrying capacity in sensitive cultural sites

December 13, 2019

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Recently, there has been a rapid tourism growth in various destinations across the EU Member States. However, with this dramatic growth there has also been challenges for sensitive cultural sites and the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. The most common challenge is overtourism which can lead to overcrowding, destruction of cultural heritage, environmental degradation, visitor and local resident’s dissatisfaction. Overtourism is also closely linked to the concept of carrying capacity of a specific geographic area. This concept, in turn, finds its origins in studies on the preservation of natural habitats of wild animals. However, the findings of said studies are nonetheless applicable to cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage sites nowadays. Carrying capacity concerns the maximum number of tourists which can be accommodated within a specific site and challenges related to this are often tackled through capacity planning. The planning of the carrying capacity of a geographic area includes considerations for the maximum amount of visitors that can make use of the site without impacting/endangering the environment or causing dissatisfaction among local residents and other visitors.

The focus of carrying capacity studies has changed throughout the years. Initially, these took into consideration the environmental and infrastructural capacities of areas, while later on the social component was included. In the late 20^th century new carrying capacity models focused more on the acceptable limits of changes caused by tourism in certain areas, as opposed to the maximum number of visitors. This led to a greater significance of participatory planning – planning in cooperation with local communities and other tourism development stakeholders. Recently, carrying capacity models have aligned with the sustainable tourism development discourse, which focuses on meeting the needs of the current generations without compromising those of future generations.

This report outlines different carrying capacity models used throughout the years within the pillars of sustainable development in tourism – the economic, socio-cultural and environmental. The various models vary from the environmental carrying capacity approach of the 1970s to the most recent model of managing overtourism in urban destinations.

These can further be divided in two main groups – diagnostic models and implementation models. The former relates to identifying the acceptable limits of usage of a specific tourism area (e.g. national park, cultural heritage site, etc.), while the latter is based on qualitative and quantitative indicators for planning and managing tourism.

The general overview of the concept of carrying capacity, different models and their development throughout time is followed by examples of cases of sensitive cultural heritage sites. The Historic Centre of Bruges (Belgium), which is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, has become one of the most visited tourist destinations in Flanders and has been faced with growing number of tourists arriving in recent years. Consequently, all of the implications of overtourism have led to the necessity to adopt measures which mainly relate to the efficient management, regulation and limitation of supply or demand. The report discusses in detail the specific measures taken. Cinque Terre (Italy) is another cultural heritage site faced with overtourism issues due to its popularity amongst tourists.

Moreover, the report provides two examples of intangible cultural heritage cases. Intangible cultural heritage such as oral traditions, social practices, rituals, and many more are of great significance for preserving and maintaining cultural diversity in the face of globalization. In Belgium, shrimp fishing on a horseback is a form of traditional craftsmanship closely connected with nature. This craft is passed on within families from generation to generation and this is why there have been efforts to preserve these practices. In Finland, the Finnish Sámi Parliament adopted guidelines for Culturally Responsible Sámi Tourism. The reason behind this measure is that often tourism stakeholders with no connection to the Sámi community and culture utilise different elements from it.

In order for cultural heritage sites and intangible cultural heritage to be preserved, problems relating to carrying capacity have to be diagnosed. This can be done using objective quantitative data on acceptable carrying capacity limits and subjective qualitative data which is based on local and tourist perceptions or value judgements on such limits. In this report, we have identified that the optimal approach in diagnostics is to use both objective data and subjective perception and aligning these to the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environment. Within the economic pillar the two most important indicators to be included are growth indicators and seasonality indicators. The most relevant diagnostics within the social pillar include the concentration of demand and supply and the satisfaction of both local residents and tourists. Lastly, within the environmental pillar diagnostics should evaluate indicators such as the quality of the environment, air quality, waste management and transportation. Furthermore, in addition to the three pillars of sustainability, consideration should also be given to the political participatory pillar due to its increasing importance in recent overtourism and anti-tourism debates. Indicators to be analysed within this pillar include participation of the local population, political support for development and media perception.

The report is concluded by a recommendations and implementation chapter. While implementation actions would be different in accordance with the specific characteristics of each site, in this report implementation measures are summarised in several groups:

Implementation measures for improving awareness and communication with different stakeholders;
Implementation measures in the field of efficient management;
Implementation measures related to development of infrastructure;
Implementation of regulation measures related to conservation and protection;
Implementation measures for limitation of supply or demand.

Within the first set of measures, potential actions include: raising awareness, promotion of lesser known sites, etc. Regarding efficient management, measures could include improving the quality of services, redistribution of visitor flows, entrance fees and/or additional charges, and so on. Implementation measures relating to development of infrastructure are highly important and would involve the improvement of waste management and destination transport accessibility, introduction of sustainable transportation infrastructure, etc. Regulation measures would focus on the active collaboration between sensitive cultural site management and policy makers. Lastly, for example, limitation of the number of organised tours at sensitive cultural sites could be implemented as a measure for the limitation of supply or demand.