"UNESCO publication, released on 18 February 2016, brings together insights from States Parties, Site Managers and other stakeholders involved in the protection, conservation and management of World Heritage properties in the region. It gives an in-depth look at the current trends and practices while presenting a clear vision for future priorities"--Publisher's description.

Since the adoption of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, the notion that cultural and natural heritage need to be protected and properly utilized has gained popularity. Over time, however, such utilization concepts were less focused on ideas of sustainability and became increasingly influenced by commercial interests. For the first time, this publication attempts to elaborate the development of the World Heritage Convention, the Convention itself in its different facets and how it evolved into one of the most important UNESCO instruments for the protection of cultural and natural heritage. It will be shown that the protection and utilization of heritage is a highly complex political, participatory and interdisciplinary process. This publication discusses these developments and suggests potential solutions in order to deal with such unintended trends.

Cultural Heritage in the European Union provides a critical analysis of the laws and policies which address cultural heritage throughout Europe, considering them in light of the current challenges faced by the Union. The volume examines the matrix of organisational and regulatory frameworks concerned with cultural heritage both in the Union and its Members States, as well as their interaction, cross-fertilisation, and possible overlaps. It brings together experts in their respective fields, including not only legal, but also cultural economists, heritage professionals, government representatives, and historians. The diverse backgrounds of the authors offer a cross-disciplinary approach and a variety of views which allows an in-depth scrutinisation of the latest developments pertaining to cultural heritage in Europe.

This thematic collection of 26 case studies provides a thorough understanding of World Heritage in the context of sustainable development.

This book includes research papers submitted to and presented during the first international conference on Cultural Sustainable Tourism (CST) that was held in Thessaloniki, Greece in November of 2017. Discussing complex relations between Culture, tourism, and the role of planners and architects in their maintenance, this conference was jointly organized by IEREK –International Experts for Research Enrichment and Knowledge Exchange- and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The conference was an attempt to shed a light on the significance of Culture and Heritage as two important factors attracting tourists and promoting economic growth and convey civilizations through tourism. Themes covered in this book give an overview on current research and topics of discussion that focus on Cultural sustainable tourism through several sections. The first section, titled “Art, Architecture and Culture”, discusses urban regeneration as a road to the preservation of cultural and tourist destinations and the importance of understanding and benefitting from our heritage to allow for modern day improvements. “Heritage Tourism”, the section 2 of the book, is more focused on offering nontraditional solutions and management plans to sustain cultural tourism and improve quality of life around historically significant areas. The third section on the “City and Rural Tourism” follows by providing sustainable strategies to attract tourists and promoting the use of existing resources. The last and final section with the title of “Sustainable Tourism, Development and Environmental Management” maneuvers around the different yet common environmental issues existing today and proposes new and innovative solutions for their elimination. Presenting a wide range of topics in chapters, this book provides the scientific community with a collection of unique and enlightening literature.

This open access book discusses political, economic, social, and humanitarian challenges that influence both how people deal with their past and how they build their identities in contemporary Europe. Ongoing debates on migration, on local, national, inter- and transnational levels, prove that it is a divisive issue with regards to understanding European integration and identity. At the same time, the European Union increasingly invests in projects related to European heritage, museums, and cultural memory networks, while having to take dissonant heritages into account. These processes in their combination offer an interesting dynamic and form the complex puzzle that poses challenging questions for anyone involved in academic research, heritage practices, and policy debates. With this puzzle at its core, this book explicitly focuses on slippery and transforming notions of Europe and critically discusses ongoing and transforming power structures of heritage and memory in today’s Europe. The book combines theoretical and methodological contributions to the debates on European heritage and memory studies and in-depth analyses of empirical case studies. Its main aim is to bring research fields concerning memory and heritage into a closer dialogue and thus explore the cultural and political dynamics of contemporary Europe.