Making sense of “heritage” from the bottom-up. An exploration of the places and spaces of Marghera (Venice)

The discourse on heritage management has increasingly emphasized community involvement since the Faro Convention (2006). A key challenge lies in understanding what a community considers a worth preserving cultural resource in their territory. This study seeks to provide clarity on this issue by empirically identifying the conditions under which the citizens living in a territory develop meanings and affections towards specific elements in their environment, defining what is valuable and thus constitutes a cultural resource. The study centers on the urban community of Marghera, an area near Venice known for its industrial history. Using a theoretical framework borrowed from human geography, the paper characterizes how certain urban elements may generate a “sense of place”, and thus become cultural resources. The findings reveal that the bottom-up definition of heritage is marked by contradictions and dialectical processes, where not all meaningful places elicit positive imageries. Finally, we suggest how an emerging process of heritagization may be favored, rather than hampered, by the institutionally bestowed cultural significance of places.