Community-driven heritage care: developing an inclusive and sustainable landscape of care for Pionta

Abstract

This article examines the concept of ‘heritage’ in the context of ‘landscapes of care’, which approaches care as a means of fostering connections between humans and non-humans. Heritage care involves communities actively engaging with and benefiting from cultural heritage in various ways. Establishing a caring landscape for heritage involves empowerment, participation, and collaboration, as demonstrated by two community-driven heritage projects in Pionta’s cultural landscape. The first project aims to create a community that strengthens the emotional bonds between individuals and their cultural legacy by promoting acts of care. The second introduces diverse participatory and art-based methods that cater to the needs of the involved groups and foster a shared sense of care for their heritage. By using heritage education and serious games as empowerment tools, the projects show how collective heritage caring can change the visual, verbal, and mental representations of a marginal heritage landscape from the community’s perspective.

Keywords:

• Caring landscape
• community
• heritage care
• participatory process
• participatory and creative methods
• serious games
• heritage education

Acknowledgements

This research would not be possible without participants of the presented projects and support of the University of Siena and Tuscany Region.

Research ethics and consent

This research project involved the participation of human subjects, and prior to initiating the planned activities, ethical approval was granted by the relevant authority. Written informed consent was obtained from all parties involved, including participating organisations, school delegates, and students. A comprehensive description of the activities and their use in the research was provided in the written informed consent form, which was obtained from each individual involved. The study ensured the anonymity of all participants and their contributions, as detailed in this article.

Disclosure statement

The author reports there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

There is no data available.

Additional information

Funding

The research presented in this article is the outcome of two participatory projects. The Rigeneramenti project was conducted by the University of Siena with the Department of Social, Political, and Cognitive Sciences in collaboration with the Florence-based Cultural Association, APS Narrazioni Urbane, and funded by the Tuscany Region. The second one is the project GEM that is the acronym of “Genius loci, memoria, identità: realizzare un presidio culturale nel Parco del Pionta”. The project has three partners comprising the Design Institute of Florence (ISIAFI), Florence-based theatre collective, Chille de la Balanza, and the Province of Arezzo, and it is funded by the Tuscany Region for the biannual period CUP: B69J21028010008.

Notes on contributors

Gozde Yildiz

Gozde Yildiz, Ph.D., is a conservation architect, Master of Science from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Graduate Program in Conservation of Cultural Heritage; she obtained her PhD at the Polytechnic University of Turin, Department of Architecture and Design in the Doctoral Program of Landscape and Architectural Heritage. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Siena, in the Department of Social, Political, and Cognitive Sciences. Her field of interests particularly focus on the sustainable reuse of cultural heritage sites via contemporary culture as a catalyst for the current zeitgeist, the decisional process of urban regeneration projects, and actors. Currently, her research interests focus on community involvement and participative and innovative approaches to citizen science. She worked with public institutions, cultural foundations, local communities, and several NGOs for community involvement, heritage education, and policy development. She is also an active volunteer at several international heritage organisations.