the physical cultural markers of the heritage: without the personal, subjective capacities to
understand, learn, further culture — which are highly dependent on the intangible networks of
knowledge and transmission of values — we would not recognise monuments and objects of art as
such. Intangible heritage is culture in motion, is the knowledge base that allows cultural heritage to
be “manufactured” or new cultural productions to be performed, it is the manifestation of a
community’s use of the cultural assets of the territory.
The territory is replete with symbolic heritage elements, which may be as diverse as the multiple
manifestations of a lifestyle. However, there are good reasons to be selective when it comes to
including these type of CHI elements in the study. In fact, their immaterial nature means that they
are the most complex to evaluate as far as spatial aspects and effects are concerned. Little research
has been done on the spatial aspects or dimensions of intangible CH, nor on the spatial impact of
processes related with CHI.
Languages, religions, traditions, celebrations affect the way in which most resources that we
recognise as “our culture” are valuated. Cultural events impinge (to varying degrees) on the cultural
identity of the territory where they are organised, and reflect a local interest in the furthering and
dissemination of cultural symbolic elements; and are strongly rooted into the local economic
networks, like tourism, travel, infrastructure development. They are an exemplary illustration of
how culture can be used as a lever for economic development and regional dynamism. It remains to
see how events can be “mapped” and “valued”, or attributed a spatial effect. The mapping of events
and the identification of spatial impacts is a new field of research (Jansen-Verbeke 2004).
The selection criterion for these assets should be the spatial expressions and effects, which need to
be visible, traceable, and measurable. Religions, ethnic and language compositions are “qualities”
of a given territory; they can only be evaluated in their spatial effects when they are connected with
other analytic categories. Intangible heritage and cultural events are “attractors” and hence they
may generate physical and economic flows. In this category the following groups are included:
B Intangible heritage
B 1 religions, and more specifically the share of followers of any given religion or cult in a region6
B 2 ethnic groups and minorities which are present in a territory
B 3 the languages (and dialects) spoken
B 4 the existence of (registered) intangible heritage assets (celebrations, traditions, expressions of popular culture and
identity), as defined by the UNESCO convention on intangible heritage
B 5 cultural manifestations and events
12