A systems view of cultural heritage. The case of landscape

The evolution of the conception of cultural goods is characterized by a process of democratization of the concept of culture in an anthropological and “material” sense, historically and territorially contextualized, that approaches that of civilization. In fact the notion of culture concerns the supply of material and intangible resources, including symbols and values, by which a community and individuals respond to tangible and intangible needs and desires, which they feel in a particular time and place. The perception of needs and desires is itself intended to be conditioned by the system of values and knowledge. Cultural heritage, a multi-dimensional, multi-stakeholder and multidisciplinary issue, requires an adequate approach to tackle the complexity involved. With a focus on trends favouring the intangible cultural heritage view, the paper clarifies the shift from a reductionist, object-based perspective to a systems view, veering in the direction of a service logic underpinning cultural heritage management. Cultural heritage in this vision is represented by means of a framework model delineating three phases that represent the shift from a goods to a product to a service logic, on the one hand, and on the other, from a historicizing to a contextualization approach to cultural heritage. In the Authors’ view, such a service logic would enable decision and policy makers to define customized pathways of enhancement based on the individual needs and expectations of potential users. Furthermore, the main contribution of a service-based approach lies in enabling each component involved in the process to co-create value as an integrated resource. From a systems perspective, the most complete manifestation of cultural heritage can be evidenced in the landscape. A visible form of history, landscape represents a backdrop to civilizations that have succeeded one another in a given place, shaping the same to their own needs by virtue of their material and immaterial capacities for producing the transformations desired, in terms of tastes and values. A systems view of the landscape, in short, by enhancing its cultural dimension, offers numerous opportunities for value creation, above all, in the tourism industry.