Ecomuseums

This paper explores the spatial dimensions of a northern landscape – the Flodden battlefield. This is the focal site of the Flodden 1513 Ecomuseum; the centre to a network of 40 other sites around the United Kingdom which together interpret the Flodden story. However, this distributed network does not fit easily with the foundational ecomuseum concept of 'territory' as the boundary around a shared heritage, memory and community. The relative merits of three concepts of ecomuseums are discussed in relation to the Flodden 1513 Ecomuseum. Inspired by Doreen Massey's interpretation of space, this study explores multiple dimensions of Flodden space through four semiautobiographical journeys to the Flodden battlefield during the author's life: as a family holiday; a teenager with interest in military strategy; an early career field geologist; a project manager working with the local community and artists. The article concludes by suggesting the word territory may not be appropriate for ecomuseums: it suggests that Peter Davis's favoured term place may be an improvement; however, it ends by proposing that space may be an even better word for the geographic context of ecomuseums.

A conservation analysis, plan and policy for the historic Pipemakers Park which was the site of Joseph Raleigh's boiling down works, the Australian Meat Preserving Company, Australian Frozen Meat Export Company and the Hume Pipe Company, from the 1850s to 1970s, and has been restored and converted for use as a park visitor centre and venue for Melbourne's Living Museum of the West, Australia's first Ecomuseum.

Il presente lavoro intende affrontare una tematica molto attuale, delicata e, per certi versi, ancora largamente sconosciuta, ma cruciale per tutelare e promuovere la competitività e lo sviluppo del sistema culturale e turistico italiano, caratterizzato dalla presenza di un ricco e articolato patrimonio ambientale, culturale e storico in cui si distinguono eccellenze di riconosciuta fama mondiale. Tuttavia, la particolarità del nostro patrimonio culturale consiste nella convivenza di beni ed evidenze altamente rinomate a cui si affiancano elementi meno noti o addirittura sconosciuti che, nonostante le loro peculiarità e le loro caratteristiche originali e uniche, soffrono il confronto e la “concorrenza” con le altre testimonianze più blasonate. Tale fenomeno risulta spesso aggravato dalla concomitanza di altre condizioni, quali in primo luogo il posizionamento geografico, che li rende difficili da raggiungere, e talvolta la loro dispersione o esclusione rispetto alle destinazioni, alle mete e ai circuiti culturali e turistici già affermati e consolidati.La presente ricerca intende dimostrare consiste nella presentazione delle possibilità di riscatto e delle possibili azioni per una nuova competitività territoriale offerta da quelle innovative e alternative strategie che mirano a fare del patrimonio culturale, e nello specifico di quello minore, una nuova leva sostenibile e soprattutto inimitabile di sviluppo alla scala locale, con particolare attenzione per quelle realtà territoriali affette da degrado e marginalità. Questa nuova impostazione e visione di sviluppo territoriale adotta un approccio definito culture-driven (Valentino, 2001; Sacco e Pedrini, 2003; Santagata, 2005; Francesconi e Cioccarelli, 2013), in cui la cultura e, in generale, il patrimonio culturale, può divenire un fattore strategico e trasversale in grado di favorire e di promuovere i processi creativi e innovativi nelle diverse filiere produttive che caratterizzano l’economia e il tessuto sociale di un territorio, divenendo, dunque, un volano inimitabile e insostituibile capace di stimolare un atteggiamento di competitività e di sviluppo che sappia creare valore condiviso, diffuso e sostenibile in quanto basato sul sapiente sfruttamento e valorizzazione delle risorse, tangibili e intangibili, caratterizzanti il singolo contesto territoriale.
L’idea alla base del presente lavoro di ricerca è che il processo di riscatto e di valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale minore non sia di esclusiva competenza delle realtà territoriali rurali e dei centri urbani di medio-piccola dimensione, esclusi dai principali flussi culturali e turistici, ma, al contrario, possa riguardare e interessare anche alcune aree periferiche e periurbane appartenenti a realtà metropolitane e urbane di grandi dimensioni e che sono conosciute come importanti destinazioni e mete culturali e turistiche, spesso di fama internazionale. Anche in queste realtà si possono riscontrare dei fenomeni accentuati di polarizzazione dell’offerta culturale e turistica verso quelle aree del territorio urbano, tendenzialmente coincidenti con le zone costituenti il nucleo storico, in cui si condensano le principali evidenze e testimonianze che costituiscono il patrimonio culturale urbano di riferimento e da cui deriva l’immagine e il posizionamento distintivo dell’offerta patrimoniale urbana.questa tendenza si riscontra in diverse realtà urbane che sono rinomate, anche a livello mondiale, per la loro ricca qualità e quantità di offerta culturale. Questo è il caso che riguarda, ad esempio, la città di Roma, in cui la maggior parte dell’offerta culturale e dei flussi turistici risultano essenzialmente polarizzati entro i confini della città storica e che, dunque, faticano a spostarsi verso gli altri quadranti del territorio urbano, sebbene anche questi ultimi posseggano numerose evidenze ambientali, culturali e storiche, talvolta di notevole pregio e classificabili come vere e proprie testimonianze rare ed eccezionali. Tale situazione risulta aggravata, inoltre, dall’assenza o dalla scarsità di adeguate infrastrutture urbane e di servizi turistici oltre i confini della città storica, che contribuiscono ad ostacolare l’accessibilità e la corretta fruizione dei beni localizzati esternamente alle aree e ai circuiti culturali e turistici consolidati. Ciò determina una diminuzione dell’offerta reale non solo verso i potenziali visitatori esterni, ma soprattutto verso gli stessi residenti che finiscono per ignorare l’effettiva consistenza e valore del patrimonio ambientale e culturale presente nei loro confini urbani e negli spazi della quotidianità urbana.
Il caso studio che si è voluto riportare si focalizza sull’indagine di una particolare area del quadrante nord-ovest della città di Roma, quella in cui sorge il territorio posto sotto l’amministrazione del Municipio XIV. Tale area risulta caratterizzata dalla presenza di importanti testimonianze culturali, naturali e storiche che, tuttavia, risultano sparse lungo l’intero perimetro dei confini del Municipio e, in particolare, lungo l’asse descritto da un importante itinerario storico-culturale passante in quel territorio e di crescente attrazione e notorietà a livello nazionale e internazionale, ovvero la Via Francigena. Questo itinerario, la cui percorrenza sta richiamando un numero sempre crescente di visitatori “alternativi” rispetto ai canoni del turismo culturale di massa, se adeguatamente valorizzato, organizzato e strutturato da parte delle autorità locali competenti e con il contributo della comunità locale e degli operatori turistici interessati, potrebbe configurarsi come un nuovo strumento strategico in grado di sovvertire la condizione di marginalità del patrimonio culturale presente in quel territorio e, di riflesso, in quel quadrante urbano e potrebbe avviare un nuovo processo di inclusione e di integrazione compatibile e complementare con il resto dell’offerta culturale e turistica che caratterizza la città di Roma. Ciò contribuirebbe a protendere il mercato turistico romano verso la capacità e la tempestività di risposta e soprattutto verso l’intercettazione di quelle nuove direttrici e tendenze alternative, spesso definite nicchie, che caratterizzano sempre più la domanda e il mercato turistico nazionale e mondiale.

L’idea di un museo diffuso sul territorio (o ecomuseo) sul tema dell’interculturalità nasce dall’esigenza di trasformare la realtà sociale connessa ai fenomeni migratori all’interno di uno specifico contesto ambientale, trasformando in elementi di forza funzionali allo sviluppo locale quelli che finora sono risultati essere invece elementi di debolezza e portatori di diverse e complesse problematiche sociali. In un territorio come quello qui considerato, particolarmente ricco di espressioni culturali diversificate, offrire ai cittadini l’opportunità di conoscere la bellezza di tale varietà di culture può infatti divenire una risorsa rilevante per lo sviluppo e la promozione della salute delle comunità presenti. Elementi fondamentali per il benessere collettivo, quali l’inclusività, la resilienza, la partecipazione e la giustizia sociale, vanno quindi promossi e incentivati e l’ideazione di uno spazio conoscitivo delle culture diffuso sul territorio diviene, così, strumento utile a tali scopi.

Once again thanks to Karen te Brake-Baldock and all the professionals involved in the "Heritage in Use" research project, that supported me during my internship period at RCE, giving me the opportunity to approach the thematic of public participation in the heritage field that encouraged me to deepen the study and research on the topic through this thesis work.

This study arises from applied research in regional contexts combined with a deep analysis of cultural landscape potential for socio-cultural and economic local development. In addition, it starts from a careful critical reflection on traditional governance models of naturalistic contexts located on the sidelines of metropolitan suburbs in delay development. It is aimed at deepening the theoretical recognition of the identifying characteristics of the Aspromonte National Park as an inseparable reality and to the definition of rurality as an important tourist attraction and as endogenous development. Moreover the paper present a summary of a pilot project for the definition, assessment and implementation of a model of Ecomuseum of the Cultural Landscape, through the identification of homogeneous territorial areas in which to conduct experimentation and implementation of management models able to trigger processes of exploitation and growth of the Aspromonte area thanks to an innovati...

The concept of the ecomuseum was developed in France in the late 1960s; the word ecomuseum comes from the French word écomusée, a compound of ecology and museum. The word "eco" used as the root of ecology or economy is from the Greek word "oikos," meaning "house." In contemplating the concept of the ecomuseum, it was decided that its exhibition method would follow that of the living history movement. Initially adopted by Skansen, an open-air museum in Sweden, this movement is based on the notion of a "museum of house" whereby how people lived in days gone by is reproduced in a comprehensive manner. The very first open air folk museum in Japan was the Nihon Minka Shuraku Hakubutsukan -Open-Air Museum of Old Japanese Farm Houses -established in 1956. The open-air museums, which began to emerge at around this time at various locations, relocated and preserved traditional houses of architectural significance as an emergency measure since they were exposed to the imminent risk of destruction. It was not until in the 1980s when, as seen in the foundation of Sanshu Asuke Yashiki -Folklife Museum in Asuke-Town -, people's living conditions were restored and put on as an active exhibition from a museology perspective. As far as Japan is concerned, the ecomuseum does not originate from the aforementioned open-air museums.

This paper was published in Spanish in: Navajas Corral, O. (2013): Características de los Ecomuseos; en VV. AA (2013): Parque Criollo y Museo Gauchesco Ricardo Güiraldes, Plan de exhibición, Buenos Aires: Exhibir · Comunicación y Conservación del Patrimonio. p: 33.

Translation by Louisa Adcock and María Gómez Bedoya

A criação da Associação Brasileira de Ecomuseus e Museus Comunitários (ABREMC) no ano de 2004 resulta do processo histórico e social quando da inclusão da museologia comunitária na programação da Conferência do Meio Ambiente Rio-92, realizada no estado do Rio de Janeiro em 1992. Desde então, a Nova Museologia brasileira vem contando com o apoio mais direto de Hugues de Varine, nomeadamente, como participante da criação da ABREMC e como membro, desempenhando à função de consultor. Estes e outros elementos históricos e conceituais fundamenta o presente texto que objetiva contextualizar institucionalmente à associação em causa e discutir os principais contributos teóricos e metodológicos com base no percurso dos primeiros Ecomuseus e Museus Comunitários membros da ABREMC. A saber: NOPH Ecomuseu de Santa Cruz, Ecomuseu da Serra de Santa Cruz, Ecomuseu da Amazônia, Ecomuseu de Maranguape, Ecomuseu de Sepetiba.
Autor: ABREMC
Co-autores: Yara Mattos, Terezinha Resende, Nádia Almeida, Bianca Wild

Abstract: Ecomuseums were created in the second half of the 20th century, to serve a need of redefining the role of museums and their relationship with the audience. The concept of the ecomuseum is based on the awareness that there is no one to know better the cultural values – both intangible and tangible – that constitute a local community’s identity than the members of the local community, nor will any other person be able to preserve and convey these values to new generations better than a local community. A local community is both the guardian and the user of, and both the curator and the audience at ecomuseums. Through ecomuseums, a community lives its identity and its tradition, conveys the awareness of it to the young ones and creates their own need to live it themselves and pass it on. Ecomuseums also enable those perceptions of a local identity and tradition not to remain hermetic, but rather to be shared with visitors coming
from other areas, creating in that way conditions for a better understanding of differences. One of the best ways to learn about differences and embrace them is the concept that in recent years has been offered by the new branch of tourism – creative tourism, which implies the involvement of tourists in learning of crafts, songs, dances and other traditional activities characteristic of the destination they have chosen, customs, dances and other traditional activities characteristic of the destination they have selected, while simultaneously as well developing their creative potentials, too. With their concept, ecomuseums stand out as ideal places for putting creative tourism into practice. On the example of the villages of Zlakusa and Potpeće, the two pearls of Zlatibor District, we shall present the opportunities of ecomuseums and creative tourism in Serbia, which as such have not been exploited yet.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of ecomuseums on the socio-economic development of the Subcarpathian Province. The research methods include Internet-based survey and literature studies. The paper starts with an overview of the definitions, history and current situation of these museums. The authors examine the influence of ecomuseums on the socio-economic development of the Subcarpathian Province through the list of indicators. The role and function of ecomuseums is investigated in the view of sustainable development principles. Within the past years the concept of sustainable development has been gradually applied within the regional tourism industry in Poland, including the Subcarpathian Province. Sustainable tourism has a positive influence on the region's development and competitiveness. It also involves cooperation among numerous stakeholders and highlights the assets of this province: the quality of the environment alongside with attractive natural and cultural heritage. In the past years the innovative form of an ecomuseum has been introduced in several municipalities. It has had a significant impact on the economic activity of local communities, especially in the mountain areas.

This essay analyzes the law of Ecomuseum in Sicily and in others regional legislations in Italy. In particular, the study examines the differences among the laws in each regional legislations and in second  point such as the laws arises in relation with the De Varine’s definition. In this case we operate with the comparative method. The analyze of each regional laws will make us understand the approach of the laws into the territories and how it dialogues with local populations. Will see like the legislation from Regione Piemonte (1995) to Regione Sicilia (2014) increased and evolved in each its form. At the end, we will ask if we are ready for an Italian law or European  in the field of Ecomuseum Institution.

La Nueva Museología fue la culminación de una serie de circunstancias políticas, sociales y culturales que se fueron fraguando a nivel internacional desde finales del siglo XIX hasta el inicio de los años ochenta que cambiaron la forma de entender el patrimonio y de concebir el espacio museal y la museología. El ecomuseo fue una de las experiencias que sirvió para dar fe, teórico y práctica, de esta realidad que acabaría constituyéndose en una organización internacional para la Nueva Museología, el MINOM.

Pero la forma en la que los distintos países se adhirieron a esta corriente museológica fue dispar marcada, fundamentalmente, por las circunstancias internas de cada territorio. El presente texto intenta realizar una breve aproximación a la evolución de un pensamiento museológico en la historia de los museos y la museología española que pudiese desembocar en una Nueva Museología en España; y, al mismo tiempo, trazar un panorama actual de los ecomuseos existentes.

(Researches of mining archaeology in the Western area of Lombard Prealps: scenarios of preservation and development of a "cultural environment")

In the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a considerable development in mining activities in different regions of the Italian peninsula. Indeed, especially in the second hal of the 18th century, a renewed interest in the exploitation of mineral deposits, due to a growing demand of metals all over Europe, caused the gradual reopening of several ancient mines. For these reason settlements were established near mining sites, particularly in proximity to the Alps. Using various types of data and sources, both historical and archaeological, it is possible to reconstruct the history of these peculiar anthropical environments, on the basis of the geo-lithological and morphological features of given areas. Moreover, historical sources are important tools for the recovery and re-evaluation old mining sites, as well as for the reconstruction of the evolution of specific landscape in the broader spectrum og historical and technological trends. This paper examines a single case study, still poorly understood, concerning the mining deposits in the Pre-Alps of Western Lombardy. The hill of this area cannot be historically considered a remarkable mining district, such as the better known eastern mountain regions of Lombardy, nevertheless, excavation activities shaped this slopes of the Pre-Alps with distinctive infrastructures which still exist. This type of research represents an interesting way of increasing the environmental riches and cultural heritage of the Alps, through the establishment of mining parks, Geoparks and naturalistic or historical routes.

The term ecomuseum has been applied to a wide range of projects that seek to conserve and interpret aspects of tangible heritage of a defined territory. An ecomuseum is an institution focused on the identity of a place, largely based on local participation and aiming to enhance the welfare and development of local communities. Ecomuseums have become popular as one of the most innovative institutions in the attempt to conjugate conservation and development, culture and environment, local identity and tourism. In this paper we will particularly analyze the case of an ecomuseum, " Ecomuseo Itinerari Frentani " , located in the Lower Molise countryside, which can be considered as the first step of a larger project regarding a network of landscape and material culture ecomuseums spread throughout Italy. We can look at ecomuseums as community – based heritage projects that support sustainable development; they can transform in cultural resource the different elements of territory (anthropological, environmental, zootechnical and agricultural), telling the history of the local identity of a given community. We will analyze some technological instruments, such as Geographical Information Systems and multimedia, which can be considered useful for the implementation of the ecomuseum mission.

Autor: Duarte Fonseca Tiago. Dissertação de Mestrado - Empreendedorismo e Estudos da Cultura, Gestão Cultural.  ISCTE - IUL. Lisboa, 2019

Resumo (PT):

Esta investigação enuncia um olhar sobre três estâncias temporais (passado, presente e futuro) de constantes transformações e processo de patrimonialização industrial da antiga fábrica da Mundet. Visa compreender as funções museológicas e políticas culturais enunciadas pelo Ecomuseu Municipal do Seixal, com a finalidade de salvaguardar e revalorizar o património cultural e natural do concelho do Seixal. Assume uma filosofia de Ecomuseu que, por definição conceptual e programática de instituição cultural polinucleada, assegura de forma permanente, as funções de investigação, conservação e valorização dum conjunto de bens naturais e culturais num dado território (EMS:1996). Do balanço e análise das metodologias de intervenção no núcleo museológico da Mundet, adequa-se um levantamento sistemático do projeto de reestruturação do complexo industrial, que se encontra vigente atualmente, admitindo uma sustentabilidade da estrutura museológica com a qualificação de espaços polivalentes, promovendo o desenvolvimento local.

Abstract (EN):

This investigation enunciate a look at three temporal periods (past, present and future) of constant transformations and the turning process of heritagization on the former Mundet’s factory into industrial heritage. This work aims to understand the cultural and museological functions set forth by Municipal Ecomuseum of Seixal, with the purpose of safeguarding and revaluing the cultural and natural heritage of the Seixal’s territory. It assumes an Ecomuseum philosophy, which by conceptual and programmatic definition is a polynuclear cultural institution, permanently assuring the functions of research, conservation and valorization of natural and cultural structures in a given territory (EMS: 1996). From the balance sheet and analysis of the intervention methodologies at the Mundet's museological unit, briefly presents a systematic look at the restructuring project of the industrial complex that is currently standing, admitting a sustainability of the museological structure with the qualification of multifunctional spaces promoting territorial development.

Le terre di mezzo del Parco Nazionale Val Grande, poste tra il fondovalle e l’alta quota, sono state culla di una cultura tradizionale durata decenni. L'industrializzazione ne provocò l’abbandono e l’inizio di un processo inesauribile in cui l'incolto ricopre e cela ciò che l'uomo ha creato con fatica in passato. Di fronte alla perdita di elementi preziosi del patrimonio materiale e immateriale e all'affievolirsi dell'identità delle comunità, il progetto "Mappa di Comunità delle Terre di Mezzo" vuole porre un freno a questo fenomeno. La partecipazione di chiunque voglia condividere la propria percezione della comunità e del territorio diventa l'elemento centrale di un processo inverso di recupero e rafforzamento delle identità locali. Il progetto ha coinvolto 130 abitanti di 10 Comuni nell’Ossola, nel Verbano e nella Valle Intrasca che hanno creato un inventario condiviso del proprio patrimonio locale, facendo emergere le vere identità territoriali formate da componenti tangibili e intangibili fortemente significative. La Mappa di Comunità derivante sarà un terreno fertile da cui sorgerà l’Ecomuseo delle Terre di Mezzo, strumento attivo di gestione del patrimonio locale.

This paper examines the complex role ecomuseums play in contemporary Chinese society as a strategy to promote cultural diversity and stimulate economic development in ethnic minority regions. Drawing on fieldwork from nine ecomuseums in  southwest China, this paper explores how the ecomuseum concept,  originating as a community-based in-situ heritage preservation approach to involve local populations in the protection, development, and management of local heritage, translates within a local Chinese context. At the same time ecomuseums in China are implemented using a top-down government-led approach, they have become a space where contact relations generate new capabilities for local communities to engage in heritage and negotiate the state authorized heritage discourse. This paper examines the forces that shape ecomuseum development to show how ecomuseums in China embody both governmental and civic roles and are an agentive cultural process involving the construction of specific localities and the conditioning of local cultural practices.

Spain has adopted the tenets of New Museology and ecomuseums. Some of its professional museologists were founding members of the International Movement for a New Museology (MINOM), and created ecomuseum experiences including Maestrazgo and Allariz. The evolution of the ecomuseum in Spain has not, however, been studied in depth. Consequently, it remains mostly unknown what is the present situation of ecomuseums in Spain, when they were originally founded and what their key characteristics are. This article presents a study of over 100 ecomuseums that have been created in Spain, since the 1980s to the present time.

Il saggio intende ripercorrere un ventennio di dibattiti sugli ecomusei in Italia a confronto con altre esperienze europee e i coevi quadri di regolamentazione dei patrimoni paesaggistici, ambientali e culturali. Più recentemente si sta discutendo una proposta di legge nazionale sul tema che riprende e prova a sintetizzare le molte varianti regionali e si riscrivono e aggiornano in diverse regioni le leggi per migliorare la conservazione e valorizzazione dei territori e delle pratiche culturali locali e per incentivare la partecipazione delle comunità locali a questi processi come un valore aggiunto. Il saggio insiste sull’importanza dell’antropologia e dell’approccio etnografico nell’analisi di questi processi patrimoniali.

The paper outlines the twenty-years debate about eco-museums in Italy face to other European experiences and contemporary rules on landscapes, environmental and cultural heritage. More recently a new proposal for a national law on eco-museums has been discussed by regional structures and the national board of eco-museums as well as in different Regions new local laws have been prepared in order to improve conservation and valorization of territories and local cultural practices enhancing, at the same time, the participation of local communities as an added value. The paper assesses the importance of anthropology and of ethnographic approach to these heritage processes.

C 1 "Le forme di una cultura […] restano impresse nella natura in relazione all'uso che via via nel tempo sono chiamate ad assolvere", O. Sorgi, Museografia etnoantropologica e territorio: la provincia ennese, in J. Cuisenier -J. Vibaek, (a cura di), Museo e cultura, Sellerio, Palermo 2002. 2 La cosiddetta socialità del paesaggio, principio sancito a Firenze nel 2000 dalla Convenzione Europea del Paesaggio.

Colombo, Cristina F. and Elena Montanari. “Ecomuseo del Campo dei Fiori: Experimenting the Potentialities of a Holistic, Diffused and Networked Museum Structure.” In Museum Multiplicities: Field Actions and Research by Design, edited by Luca Basso Peressut, Cristina F. Colombo and Gennaro Postiglione, 183-213. Milan: Politecnico di Milano, 2014.
https://issuu.com/melaproject/docs/mela_book_10_issuu_9a376682c8749f
ISBN 978-88-95194-43-1

Language: English

Egypt has world famous heritage that is coveted and protected internationally; however, much of the local ʻdistinctivenessʼ is deteriorating and the communities living amongst this heritage are impoverished. This dissertation discusses the potential for ecomuseums in Cairo to utilize local ʻdistinctivenessʼ as a tool for social and economic development, heritage preservation and community empowerment.

Geotourism focuses on living experience through the contact of geoenvironmental and cultural components that constitute the particular identity of a region. Zagori is a geographical unity which represents the combined work of Nature and Human depicting the evolution of the local society under the influence of the physical constraints of this mountainous area. In the proposed geocultural routes the dialectic relationship between Human and Nature is determined by historical conditions and by the record of the process that transforms space into a landscape. Following these routes we collect herbs following the path of Vikogiatroi (local healers of the 18 th century), we walk on cobbled stone paths. At the same time we are travelling back in geological time when the glaciers' melting water was curving the sediments of Tethys Ocean. Geotourism-a new form of experiential tourism During the 1980s, the negative effects of mass tourism combined with the proposal of sustainable development strengthened new types of sustainable tourism such as rural tourism, ecotourism, cultural, ski, trekking and mountaineering tourism. It may be said that geotourism encompasses ecotourism and cultural tourism and is considered as a modern form of sustainable tourism, which is developing dynamically the last two decades in many countries. Ecotourism promotes the natural heritage conservation and tourists delight the natural environment, while cultural tourism promotes the cultural heritage conservation and tourists contact with the local cultural components (tangible and intangible). Geotourism has more than one definition and thus has many aspects. Actually, geotourism is connecting the geological heritage with the natural environment and the cultural monuments 1. Furthermore, it focuses on living experience through the contact of geoenvironmental and cultural attributes that constitute the particular identity of a region 2. The motivations in developing a geotouristic destination are mainly the experience and the knowledge. Therefore, geotourists are searching places to explore and experience the authenticity of geocultural heritage 3. According to Travel Industry Association of America and National Geographic, geotourism is defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place-its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents 4. Based on this definition, geotourists also will gain awareness of the environment and will travel in order to know the culture and unique characteristics of a given destination. Recently, geotourism was redefined as: " the provision of interpretative and service facilities for geosites and geomorphosites and their encompassing topography, together with their associated in situ and ex situ artefacts, to ensure their protection and conservation through sustainable IMIC2015: 1 st International Conference on Experiential Tourism|Santorini, Greece|09-11/10/2015

Over the past few decades, both in the USA and Europe, many cultural landscapes (CL's) facing social and economic decline have been revitalized through processes embracing planning, design, touristic ideas, heritage resources, local administrations and communities, resulting in cultural or heritages parks (HP's). This paper forms part of the debate on CL's and highlights their rehabilitation via HP's. The research raises the question of the role HP's have played within the restoration of CL's' while aiming to bring the discussion into the current sustainable planning and land design debate. As a case study, it takes the experience of the Mondego River Heritage Park (MRHP), located in the central region of Portugal. The MRHP builds upon the European Landscape Convention, HP's' accomplishments and academic studies. Conclusions suggest heritage to be an effective driving-force for sustainable development and heritage park as an operative concept in the planning, land design and management of the territory.