Paper short abstract:

The background study for the ratification of the Council of Europe's Faro convention was carried out in Finland in 2014. The purpose of the paper is to ponder what kind of perspectives the convention brings to the research on cultural heritage and heritage communities.

Paper long abstract:

The background study for the ratification of the Faro convention was carried out in Finland in 2014. The purpose of the paper is to ponder what kind of perspectives the convention brings to the research on cultural heritage and heritage communities. I will present the current phase of preparing the ratification process of the Faro convention from the perspective of comparing national and international heritage politics.

The Faro convention highlights heritage communities and quality of life. It also links the concept of the "common heritage of Europe" to human rights and the fundamental freedoms.

I will present "Case Finland", how the project in Finland was implemented. It was decided to explore the implications of the ratification. This was done in an interactive process and wide public discussion. Crowdsourcing was used in order to accumulate ideas, knowledge and experience. An open web consultation, workshops in different parts of the country and active use of social media were used as instruments to gather ideas and views of various interest groups and individual citizens.