Patrizia Riganti

Regeneration processes activate stable regimes of interaction and interdependence among the architectural, economic, cultural and social sub-systems in settlements. The thesis of this paper is that in order to progress towards sustainable and inclusive cities, urban governance should widen the decision-making arena, promoting virtuous circular dynamics based on knowledge transfer, strategic decision making and stakeholders’ engagement. The historic urban landscape is a privileged la b for this purpose. The paper adapts the Triple-Helix model of knowledge-industry-government relationships to interpret the unexpected regimes of interaction between Local Authority and Cultural Heritage Assets triggered in the late 90es by the establishment of a knowledge provider such as a Faculty of Architecture in the highly degraded heritage context of the city of Syracuse, Italy. Following this approach, the authors explain the urban regeneration happened over the last 20 years in the port city of Syracuse, based on knowledge sharing and resources’ protection that promoted processes of social engagement and institutional empowerment for both new residents and entrepreneurs.

This paper discusses the potential of current advancements in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) for cultural heritage preservation, valorization and management within contemporary cities. The paper highlights the potential of virtual environments to assess the impacts of heritage policies on urban development. It does so by discussing the implications of virtual globes and crowdsourcing to support the participatory valuation and management of cultural heritage assets. To this purpose, a review of available valuation techniques is here presented together with a discussion on how these techniques might be coupled with ICT tools to promote inclusive governance.