Paper short abstract:

In this paper we will explore the paths to be considered when thinking about how, when, or why participation is included in institutional decisions about heritage in Barcelona. We claim that participation should be understood as a cultural artifact and thus subjected to ethnographic criticism.

Paper long abstract:

Heritage practitioners are being increasingly requested to embrace greater community participation in heritage and urban planning. Scholars, and this is one of the aims of the Curbatheri project (www.deepcities.eu), are also interested in exploring the impact that community involvement has both for heritage management and for heritage preservation. Since 2015 Barcelona has been the scenario of different institutional participative events and processes characterised by targeted, top-down community participation. In our presentation we will examine participation as a process and a cultural artefact, making its analysis suitable for ethnographic methodologies. With this purpose in mind, we will briefly discuss the participatory processes and dynamics taking place in Barcelona, paying special attention to those that could involve [dissonant] urban heritage.

In our presentation we will argue that more than examining the impact of participatory practices in heritage planning and decision making, it is necessary to adopt an ethnographic eye to observe two main aspects related to the participatory turn. The first is to analyse, document, and interpret what people are doing with heritage in their everyday lives. This is because, while most studies to evaluate public participation in aspects of heritage focus on measuring the amount of people that visit sites, monuments or museums, we would like to argue that more attention should be paid on qualitative approaches. Secondly, we will propose that the use of ethnographic tools to examine participation for urban processes not directly related to heritage may illuminate in unexpected ways discussions on heritage and participation.