There is today however the acknowledgement that tourism policy is not sufficient to grant heritage
a more decisive role in economic development. The framework for integration of culture in
development strategy is as wide as it is implied by the restructuring of economic and social currents
that brought “ideas”, “values” and “networks” to be the pillars of the “new economy”.
2.2 European enlargement and integration issues
The ESPON 1.3.3 study fits in a specific context: the interlocked dynamics of globalisation and the
renewed interest for the local. The European enlargement is an illustration of these forces at work,
and the main pretext for this study: new member states generate new economic, social and physical
pressures on the European cultural assets, but at the same time an incentive to the traditional
concepts of culture and identity. (the trend toward more regionalisation in EU puts the role of CH in
question ...)
In May 2004, ten new countries have joined the European Union, and another two are going to join
in 2007. The new countries represent not only an addendum of 74 million new citizens and a
territory of some 738,000 kmq, but also numerous languages, dialects and ethnic groups, and a
remarkable total of 49 sites in UNESCO’s World Heritage List (plus 16 in Bulgaria and Romania
and 11 in neighbouring Norway and Switzerland), which add up to the 240 existing in the EU-15
territory. Indeed, the extension of the “cultural boundaries” of Europe is likely to have a strong
impact on the context of the conservation and valorisation strategies for the cultural heritage. In EU-
27, there presumably will be:
• More cultural complexity at the local, regional and pan-continental level: Europe, and each of its
territories, will be richer in cultural resources: more attractive, more interesting, more
“contestable” (but also more transparency and democracy in the approach of the rediscovery of
forgotten heritage: cf. Harrison and Hitchcock, 2005).
• More opportunities for cultural identification for European communities: the enlargement
toward neighbouring countries re-brings in the European community traces of the heritage of its
citizens, who have the opportunity of re-discovering their past traditions and languages.
• Additional know-how on CH management and cultural planning: the enlarged “scale” of the
cultural resources of Europe, in terms of landscapes and intangible heritage, means that more
possibilities are given to integrate development strategies based on the recognition and
valorisation of culture across territories and boundaries.