Soundscape as Part of the Cultural Heritage

The chapter explores soundscape as part of the cultural and natural heritage. The implications that the soundscape (as resource) has in parallel with the visualscape on the best conservation and restoration of cultural and natural heritage are discussed. Techniques for the recognition of the soundscape as a "trademark" of the cultural tangible and intangible properties are implemented. Improvement of tools such as management plans suggested by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are suggested, and several applications are presented. So far the preservation guidelines for cultural and natural heritage (buildings, squares, and landscape) consider a unique element of any modification or restoration of the visual sensation. Nevertheless, the way people perceive and enjoy cultural and natural heritage is multisensorial, and the soundscape has intangible, intrinsic, and irreplaceable value, which contributes to its outstanding universal value, making it unique, recognizable by the community, and attractive for tourists--it can be as important as the visualscape.