SOCIAL CHALLENGES (S)
Political, socio-cultural challenges which are in connection with good governance:
S1. Living in peace
S5. Establishing good governance
S6. Promoting participatory management
Quality of life and well-being related challenges:
S2. Improving quality of life
S3. Contributing to people’s well-being and good health
Improving the relations of societies to their own heritage:
S4. Preserving the collective memory
S7. Optimising implementation of the conventions
S8. Promoting an inclusive approach to heritage
Recommendation S1: Encourage the involvement of citizens and local authorities in capitalising on their everyday heritage
Recommendation S1 seeks for better synergies in the acknowledgement and appreciation of locally accessible intangible and tangible examples of cultural heritage through the promotion of participatory democracy. In its ideal model the citizens are actively involved in cultural events and actions organised by the local authorities and associations. Suggested courses of actions include discovery visits organised by inhabitants and professionals, demonstration of traditional trade skills and knowledge, organising events of folk traditions, publishing booklets, books, scientific works on local folk traditions, vernacular and other types of local monuments, broadcasting and sharing online audiovisual and radio materials with active participation of the local people.
R-S1 answers the following social challenges: S2, S4, S6, S8 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D1, D3 and K1, K3.
Recommendation S2: Make heritage more accessible
Recommendation S2 seeks for a better access to heritage, either on site or in a remote form. The types of actions can be also very various: the objects of heritage may be presented with the help of a presenter or even through the possibilities of digital technology. The visitors of the site or users of the digital tools will be able to achieve a better understanding of the subject from these encounters and develop a more personal relationship with the closely accessed elements of heritage. Suggested courses of actions include all types of improvements which help to widely broaden the possible target audience and provide a better experience for these groups. Such actions can be the improvements of the site regarding safety and all the enhancements for the easier access of the physically or sensory disabled people, improvements of signage of the site. Other actions can reflect on the diversity of the visitors, providing wording variations for the descriptions including multilingual versions of the presentations or playful variations of the same material, especially with the involvement of remote virtual discovery of the subjects, audiovisual materials or other out-of-the-common solutions. Finally, running awareness-raising campaigns and elaborating special ways to reach groups which are not frequent visitors of the topic (young people etc.) can be also a good and followable strategy.
R-S2 answers the following social challenges: S1, S2, S5, S7 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D1, D3 and K1, K3.
Recommendation S3: Use heritage to assert and transmit the fundamental values of Europe and European society
Recommendation S3 suggests the promotion of European fundamental values such as democracy, humanism and diversity especially through the participation in European programmes like the European Capitals of Culture, the European Heritage Days or the European Heritage Label. Courses of actions may be those which underline the existence and importance of intercultural exchanges of knowledge and skills and all the different influences through which the different cultures (from within and outside of Europe) affected each other over the centuries. This diversity which can be identified both on a local level and in a much greater scale too can be promoted through multilingual audiovisual or written contents, targeting different audiences, all highlighting the fact that our heritage and cultural diversity are important assets for the future of Europe.
R-S3 answers the following social challenges: S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D1 and K1, K3, K6.
Recommendation S4: Promote heritage as a meeting place and vehicle for intercultural dialogue, peace and tolerance
Recommendation S4 suggests the monuments and public places of heritage as the location and meeting place of intercultural discussions in the same manner as the Greek agora or the Roman forum provided space for communication, debates and joint decisions. Suggested courses of actions would highlight the history and value of historical public places which even urbanistically should be enforced to become convenient meeting places for communities where they can discover interculturality and maintain cultural discussions on these strong bases. A specifically suggested action is taking part in Council of Europe's Intercultural Cities programme.
Recommendation S4 answers the following social challenges: S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8 and interfaces with the following knowledge and educational challenges: K1, K2, K3.
Recommendation S5: Encourage and assess citizen participation practices and procedures
Recommendation S5 suggests the elimination of all those barriers which would keep citizens from participating in the actions and decisions connected to heritage-related topics, this way reaching a more democratic and social model of heritage management.
R-S5 answers the following social challenges: S1, S3, S5, S6, S7 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D1, D7 and K1, K7.
Recommendation S6: Create a suitable framework to enable local authorities and communities to take action for the benefit of their heritage and its management
Recommendation S6's vision is about an active citizenship that can preserve and pass on the specific aspects of their cultural heritage for the further generations. So that the citizens and local authorities can exercise this right the existing laws need to be further-developed to help partnerships between the different authorities and stakeholders on different levels. Similarly to R-S5, citizen participation should be forced in cultural heritage actions, starting from debates to actual heritage management tasks. Facilitating the collection of participatory financial resources and encouraging the involvement of the public to the drafting of planning and development documents are also important courses of action as part of this recommendation.
R-S6 answers the following social challenges: S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, S7 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D1, D7 and K1, K6.
Recommendation S7: Develop and promote participatory heritage identification programmes
Recommendation S7 suggests the involvement of citizens to the identification programmes of cultural heritage in order to raise the collective responsibility for heritage while contributing to the development of a quality living environment. Suggested courses of actions are: creating collaborative platforms for drawing up of the inventories, developing participatory heritage identification programmes at different territorial levels and for different audiences or promoting projects fostering the contextualisation of the inventory items. Further suggested actions can be the collection of diverse skills, organising training with public feedback sessions and prioritising the inventories of endangered or threatened heritage assets.
R-S7 answers the following social challenges: S2, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D3 and K1, K2, K3.
Recommendation S8: Encourage heritage rehabilitation initiatives by local communities and authorities
Recommendation S8 suggests the continuous support of local communities and authorities in identifying and preserving their intangible and tangible cultural heritage with the following courses of action: spreading informative and propagatory materials on the subjects, organising showcase efforts to reveal and rehabilitate forgotten heritage, supporting the transmission of oral traditions, memory and history in the form of community events and training citizens to be ambassadors of their territory with close links to the local traditions and the common heritage of the local citizens.
R-S8 answers the following social challenges: S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S8 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D1, D4 and K1, K2, K3, K8.
Recommendation S9: Support intergenerational and intercultural projects to promote heritage
Recommendation S9's courses of action includes the expansion of learning possibilities between young people and the elders as part of site surveys, the workshops of traditional building trades or the archives of cultural heritage assets. It is also recommended to form clubs with the participation of different people, where both old techniques and new ways of digital technologies can be taught and to involve citizens with various cultural backgrounds, places of origin, age and occupation to site restoration works and other heritage-related projects.
R-S9 answers the following social challenges: S1, S3, S4, S5, S6, S8 and interfaces with the following territorial and economical as well as the following knowledge and educational challenges: D1, D3 and K2, K4.
Recommendation S10: Facilitate and encourage (public and private) partnerships in cultural heritage promotion and conservation projects
Recommendation S10 suggests the achievement of participatory governance through partnership projects between civil and public organisations and authorities. It is desirable to identify stakeholders available for such co-operations and enlist them. Other suggested actions are to raise awareness amongst the potential partners, to encourage patronage and sponsorship of the cultural heritage and to support training workshops and voluntary work.
R-S10 answers the following social challenges: S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8 and interfaces with the following territorial and economic challenges: D1, D5, D7.