Towards Heritage Community Assessment: Indicators Proposal for the Self-Evaluation in Faro Convention Network Process

The Faro Convention introduces an innovative concept of cultural heritage by recognising theimportance of the community that is formed around the cultural asset to be enhanced. This concept isconsistent with the New European Agenda for Culture, especially the European Year Cultural Heritage(EYCH) Initiative 9 "Heritage for all: citizen participation and social innovation", that promotesa broader understanding of heritage, placing people and communities at the centre and involvingthem in making decisions about heritage valorisation. The cultural heritage acquires the meaningof common good and has been configured as "cultural commons", expression of values shared bythe heritage community and of the process activated to enhance it. In this perspective, the paperpresents a proposal for the integration of the evaluation process identified by the Faro Convention,explaining the appropriate indicators useful for analysing the specificity of the valorisation processesand making them comparable. The methodological proposal was tested for the experience of theFriends of Molo San Vincenzo Heritage Community, activated in Naples, Italy.