Threats and opportunities through the lens of civic and social council stakeholders in Madrid’s World Heritage urban cultural landscape

ABSTRACT

The support and participation of local stakeholders in tourism development and the conservation of World Heritage Sites is a fundamental requisite for the sustainable management of World Heritage Sites in urban destinations. This work aims to analyse the threats and opportunities posed by the declaration of World Heritage by UNESCO of the Cultural Landscape of the City of Madrid in July 2021 from the perspective of local stakeholders. The declaration is linked to creating an organization for debate and drafting proposals called the ‘Civic and Social Council,’ made up of different stakeholders associated with the declared zone (organizations, professional associations, and neighbourhood associations, among others) intending to work, pool resources, and join forces to protect this area. The study integrates three theories, Social Exchange Theory, Integrated Threat Theory and Social Identity Theory. From these theoretical bases, this paper proposes a new theoretical framework where the three complementary approaches are integrated. By conducting a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with stakeholders and a roundtable discussion with heritage experts, attitudes towards tourism and the threat variables are identified.

KEYWORDS:

• Social Identity Theory
• Integrated Threat Theory
• Social Exchange Theory
• World Heritage Site
• local stakeholder
• Madrid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alicia Orea-Giner

Alicia Orea-Giner is a Social Technologist for Sustainable Tourism ((ST)²) and an Associate Professor at Rey Juan Carlos University. She holds multiple degrees, including a PhD in Tourism and Geography, with honors, and master's degrees in Sustainable Tourism and ICT, and Management and Leadership of Cultural Projects. She is also a graduate in Social Anthropology, Tourism, and History.

Laura Fuentes-Moraleda

Laura Fuentes-Moraleda, Bachelor's degree in Economics from Autonomous University of Madrid. Ph.D. in Social Sciences (2009). Tenured professor at the Department of Business Economics at the University Rey Juan Carlos since the academic year 2007/2008, teaching in tourism studies (undergraduate and postgraduate), primarily in the subject of Tourist Market Analysis, of which she is the coordinator. Currently, she serves as the Deputy Director of the Center for Tourism Studies, where she conducts her main research activities. She co-directs the Master's program in International Tourism Management Her main research areas include (i) Tourist Consumer Behavior (Cultural Tourism, Technology applied to the tourism industry) and (ii) Tourism as instrument for development (SDGs, Gender Studies).

Nuria Morère Molinero

Nuria Elisa Morère Molinero, Full professor in Ancient History at the Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid, Spain). She is member of the Research Group Methaodos (Sociology Applied to Communication and Culture http://www.methaodos.org/lineas-de-investigacion/sociologia-comunicacion-cultura). She has been involved with Heritage, Tourism and Cultural Tourism from teaching and from her research. She was Director of Graduate Courses for Tourist Information (1998), Tourism Management (2002-2005), and Deputy Dean since 2003 (2003-2005; 2010-2012) and currently Co-Director of the Master ‘Dirección Internacional del Turismo-International Tourism Management’ https://www.urjc.es/universidad/calidad/1934-international-tourism-management. She is member of ICOMOS Spain and of the UNESCO - UNITWIN Academic Network Sorbonne, Paris 1 on Cultural Tourism and Development Her researches are based on the links between Heritage-History and Tourism: Heritage Attractions (Cultural Itineraries, Archaeological Sites) and History of Travel and Tourism. She is integrating the concept of past and process into the analysis of Tourism.