Mapping the Dynamics of European Culture: Pressure and Opportunities from
the European Enlargement
Paper presented for the 45th Congress of the European Regional Science Association
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 23-27 August 2005,
ANTONIO RUSSO, Erasmus University Rotterdam*
MYRIAM JANSEN-VERBEKE, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
JAN VAN DER BORG, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Abstract
This paper develops an analytic framework for the ESPON 1.3.3 project “The Role and Spatial
Effects of Cultural Heritage and Identity”, started in December 2004 by a network of 12 European
Universities under the leadership of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
The conceptual framework of this project lies on the assumption that the cultural heritage of Europe
is not just an ensemble of tangible assets to be conserved, but rather an element of dynamism of the
territory, affecting trajectories of regional development. Thus the identification and valorisation of
the cultural heritage is to be considered an integral component of regional planning, with the
potential to increase cohesion within an enlarged European Union. The establishment of an
“European identity”, gaining from difference and variety, is also part of this vision (Graham et. Al,
2000: 26). In this light, the ESPON 1.3.3 project sets out to highlight the spatial expressions and
effects of heritage assets and identify the (existing or potential) elements of territorial coherence at
the regional and local scale, mapping the geographical aspects that are actually strengthening
regional identities and networks.
This paper introduces a list of regional indicators of the European cultural heritage and identity,
reflecting elements such as heritage presence, concentration and diversity, accessibility, spatial
patterns at the local and cross-regional level, local embeddedness of intangible heritage assets,
pressures on- and potential for the development of heritage and the governance structure of the
heritage management institutions. Heritage parameters allow the “ordering” of the territory and thus
the identification of regional typologies from the elaboration of different ordering criteria.
Indicators regard the multiple dimensions regarding the supply, the demand and the spatial
organisation of cultural heritage, based on the whole NUTS III regional delimitation.
The issue of the territorial cohesion of cultural heritage assets is also addressed, considering the
following multiple “dimensions” of the interconnection between different “objects” or carriers of
meaning: hardware (the infrastructural system), software (images and actual uses), orgware
(organizational networks) and shareware (partnerships that support the process of development).
These elements are compiled in a framework or model used to analyse the territorial expressions of
cultural heritage and identity. The preliminary results from Spanish regions are illustrated and
commented.
Keywords: Cultural heritage, spatial analysis, planning, European integration
JEL codes. R12, R53, Z1
Corresponding author. Post address: Escola de Turisme (EUTDH), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Campus de la UAB - 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès) Barcelona, SPAIN. E-mail
[email protected].