Community Led Practices and Cultural Planning: Methodological Approaches and Practices for Sustainable Urban Development

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to define a common framework of the Cultural Planning application, in order to provide a range of theoretical and practical tools to combine the conservation of cultural heritage and local development in urban and rural areas, where the management of cultural heritage can have a significant role improving the active participation of the community in the public decision making process. The idea of participation is, at different levels and in different contexts, strongly present in Europe; modern urban design and planning projects are increasingly including local communities in urban development planning activities. In conclusion, the paper argues the possibility of applying the Cultural Planning tool in the field of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria strategic planning. IntroductionThe economic, social, cultural and demographic developments, over the last decades, have been characterized by large regional transformations that have seen the city of the third millennium engaged in a constant and continuous rethinking of their areas [1].In Europe, and more recently in Italy reuse, redevelopment, new functions, retrain become one of the major objectives of the government and the private sector. Europe has a long history of urbanization and most of its economy is concentrated in cities. Despite that, standardised data on European cities are not easily available and only recently the European Commission has released data on metropolitan NUTS-3 regions that allow carrying out empirical analysis on the characteristics and determinants of urban agglomerates in Europe [2].The changes that have characterized metropolitan regions have inspired research on agglomeration economies and regional planning, especially with reference to the concepts of urban regions, edgeless cities and mega city regions [3].On the other hand, the process of growth that has characterized the Italian planning system over the last century and a half, have considerably affected the shape and structure of urban-rural regions, both in terms of their physical, social and cultural dimension.The complexity of the choice that governmental agencies are facing to, requires an ability to implement complex decision making processes, flexibility and innovation in order to ensure a longterm planning, an integrated resource for promoting participation, access to the arts and culture and social integration. This paper treats the so-called cultural planning approach as a way of enabling policy-makers to think strategically about "culture" as economic resource for urban development. Furthermore it draws a picture of the most popular and relevant community led approaches currently available in Europe, finally proposing an hypothesis of integration and application of such methods to the context of Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria.