Cultural heritage in regional development strategies

Funded by: The Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet)

Time period: 1+1 year (1 368 745 SEK/year) 2020-2021 (we have received an extension due to corona, so 2022 will be enough as well)

Organizational project members: Department of Art History and Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, both at Uppsala University

About the project

This project explores the role cultural heritage plays in regional development strategies and in concrete regional development through EU financed projects. Previous research indicates that the cultural heritage sector and the regional development sector work according to different logics, which creates problems of translation and hence the possibilities to claim the resources that are available. The aim of this project is to use a national perspective to explore what effects this has on the possibilities to use cultural heritage for innovations for regional development and smart specialization, for example within the tourism sector. We study the regions´ development strategies, the number and amount of funding for EU projects utilizing cultural heritage, and interviews with the actors situated at the intersection between cultural heritage and regional development, and participating in the development processes. We will identify good examples and best practices nationally. Then we will spread this knowledge, that can increase the possibilities of the sector, through initiating a national network for the cultural heritage sector.

Project leader: Christer Gustafsson

Project members: Christer Gustafsson, Ulrika Persson-Fischier