From “Contemplation of Ruin” to Sustainable Heritage

Contribution to an Adequate Understanding of Cultural Assets

Abstract

It is urgent to call for a dynamic understanding of cultural heritage, one that adapts the methods of protecting cultural assets to the demands of (post)modern life. Protection based solely on classification acts and the imposition of duties on the respective owners has already shown its failure, leading to a policy of “contemplation of ruins.” True valorisation of cultural assets today inevitably requires finding ways to make them useful and bring them closer to the population. Discussing this issue, however, requires framing it within other considerations, such as: the responsibility for the conservation of cultural assets; the urban and environmental implications of the precautionary principle in cultural heritage; and the problem of ensuring the economic sustainability of cultural heritage.