Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on participatory initiatives and techniques in heritage policies in Spain. Paying attention to the challenges of establishing bridges with both critical theories and civil society movements, we seek alternative and empirically informed models of heritage governance and management.

Paper long abstract:

Participation in heritage governance and management is gathering momentum. New stakeholders and rights-holders, organised in civil society movements and associations, are gaining access to decision-making in heritage policies. New regulations, such as those adopted by UNESCO on intangible cultural heritage, are compelling institutions to implement participatory methodologies. These changes echo a growing concern about the impact of heritage policies and initiatives, particularly the social divisions and conflicts that they generate. The troublesome character of these policies spans many different fields, including both natural and cultural heritage initiatives.

We examine how this new phenomenon of participatory techniques and experiences is unfolding in many different geographies and around multiple subject themes. We will illustrate this examination with different examples from Spain. The timing of this research is particularly good due to the deepening of the representational crisis that we have recently witnessed both within academia and society at large. As such, we approach this project as an opportunity to test participatory practices and initiatives against both critical theories and political initiatives that rethink the role, pitfalls and opportunities of public participation. Our goal is to identify the challenges of establishing bridges between public policy and civil society movements and to point the way towards an empirical rethinking of participatory models of heritage governance and management.