Community-Based Processes for Revitalizing Heritage: Questioning Justice in the Experimental Practice of Ecomuseums

Heritage is not only what societies inherit from the past: it is also an opportunity for practicing the principles of sustainability in the making of the future. A community-based approach is pivotal for generating long lasting processes aimed at revitalizing heritage. This assertion has been widely stated in several norms and conventions, such as the 2000 European Landscape Convention and the 2005 European Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society. Some practices aimed at revitalizing heritage with a community-based approach can be ascribed to the organizational form of the so-called ecomuseums, born in France in the 1970s and today spread worldwide. Ecomuseums soon became a tool for organizing community-based processes aimed at protecting and enhancing heritage in its various facets while promoting local development. However, not every existing ecomuseum is also able to grasp the opportunity of including disadvantaged persons and guaranteeing the right to heritage for all. This paper discusses the innovative elements and criticalities of ecomuseums, questioning how could they target heritage’s enhancement as well as justice simultaneously. This paper gains evidence from an ongoing action-research process and provides policy recommendations for EU southern regions that are now starting to experiment with the practice of ecomuseums, such as Sicily (IT).