Ensuring sustainability of cultural heritage through effective public policies

Sustainability of cultural heritage is a complex issue and is rarely measured, especially at the project level, mainly due to a lack of universal heritage sustainability indicators. This is why many heritage projects are only partially sustainable. This article defines the concept of heritage sustainability and offers methods to measure and evaluate it. The research presented was conducted on good practice examples analysed in Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, which are assessed as strategic projects within specific EU, regional, or local policy instruments. The methodology, which explored possible indicators for evaluating the sustainability of cultural heritage investments, involved desk research and ex post analysis of selected heritage projects funded within a policy instrument, interviews with cultural heritage managers, focus groups, and comparative analysis of best practices analysed. The findings showed the crucial importance of cooperation and broad participation of various stakeholders, excellent cultural management, diversification of funding sources, community involvement and appropriation of cultural heritage by the community, respect for professional standards, innovative solutions, and careful spatial planning in ensuring heritage sustainability. Transferability of good practice examples is challenging because it depends on the local context. In order to be able to measure heritage sustainability at the project level, an all-encompassing set of cultural heritage sustainability indicators is proposed. To justify heritage investments, policy instruments may consider future priorities based on this set of indicators.