One of the principal questions in this study is indeed the following: “How can innovative spatial
planning and policies best contribute to the territorial cohesion among European regions?”. The
following hypotheses are tested in our project:
1) The promotion of territorial identity is a tool to make cultural development activities
possible and rentable.
2) Local communities are using culture to identify their territories. The significance of this
approach is expressing a growing tendency in the contemporary European continent.
3) Built heritage is a carrier of local and regional cultural heritage.
4) The physical linkages between the carriers of cultural elements could be seen as a layer of
the infrastructural system of Europe.
5) The images of cultural heritage elements could be seen as the software of the cultural
heritage.
2.3 Conceptualisation of cultural heritage and identity
Heritage includes by definition cultural and natural heritage (Jafari, 2003: 275-277). In this project a
common approach to cultural heritage and identity is sought for, thus excluding natural heritage, but
including cultural landscapes that result from the cumulative superimposition of human habitats.
Although it is difficult to come to a consensus on the definition of cultural heritage, this is the focus
of this study.
There are at least two ways of approaching the cultural heritage of Europe, which can be described
as extremes in a continuum (Fig. 1) which goes from a conceptualisation as (a) a static set of
features of the territory, including spatial patterns and structures, to (b) cultural identity both as the
spatial expression of the social and economic dynamics of communities. In this view on patterns
(static) and processes (dynamics) we can place official definitions of cultural heritage that are given
in international treaties and endorsed by organisations.
More oriented to the first is the Venice Charter, a milestone for the modern conservation movement,
which was adopted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in 1956 when
it was set up, and then published in 1966. The Venice Charter stresses the importance of setting,
respect for the original fabric, precise documentation of any intervention, the significance of
contributions from all periods to the building's character, and the maintenance of historic buildings