The contribution of international research to the European Urban Agenda for Culture and Cultural Heritage: bringing European policies into local practices and vice versa

Following the progressive recognition, at the European and international levels, of the multi-faced benefits that Cultural Heritage (CH) brings to cities and society, creating better and more attractive places where to live and work, the research deals with CH and its potential in supporting integrated, people-centred, participatory and sustainable development policies at the urban level. The research follows the progress of the process launched in 2016 by the Pact of Amsterdam, which called for the adoption of a European Urban Agenda, to identify, through multi-level and multi-stakeholders Partnerships (UAEU Partnerships), effective solutions to the increasingly complex urban challenges. Within such a framework, the research has elaborated an integrated approach for the definition of an Action Plan for Cultural Heritage, consisting in a set of local actions, resulting from the intersection between: - the review of the most recent EU and international policies and programmes related to CH and integrated urban development; - the main findings emerged from the work conducted by the ongoing 14 UAEU Partnerships, to identify possible cross-cutting issues and correlations with the CH domain; - the analysis of the solutions implemented by the most recent and innovative EU-funded projects in the field dealing, in a synergic, participatory and transversal way, with CH as an engine of regeneration, innovation and inclusive and sustainable growth, and whose findings result from the collaboration between urban authorities, research bodies and other relevant stakeholders, each contributing with its own competences, practical experience, perspectives and concrete needs. The validity of the proposed methodology in defining relevant and immediately implementable actions has been assessed against the Bologna Strategic Metropolitan Plan 2.0, demonstrating how international research is capable of nurturing in iterative process allowing to translate EU policies into local practices and vice versa, while offering new insights and inspiration for future research agendas.