Laws on the Use of the Public Space for Heritage Purposes

The 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003 Convention) defines intangible cultural heritage (ICH) as “practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the . . . cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and . . . individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage” (Art 2(1)). Hence, the fundamental components of ICH are a practice, a community of people and a cultural space. “Cultural spaces” may be both public and private in nature. For example, museums, which may be cultural spaces associated with ICH, may be both public and private spaces. As the spatial component of ICH under the 2003 Convention, cultural and natural spaces derive their cultural significance not from any inherent ‘attributes’, but rather become culturally relevant as a result of the intangible beliefs and practices to which they are connected. This is in contrast to the 1972 UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972 Convention), under which natural and cultural spaces must have ‘outstanding universal value’ to be considered ‘World Heritage’. Under the approach of this Convention, the “tangible physical features” of cultural and natural spaces “are endowed with intangible meanings that are thought to be inherently tied to their physicality”. This chapter addresses the relationship between the two Conventions, with regard to the use of the public space for heritage purposes, in three ways. First, the chapter investigates how concepts that are fundamental to the 2003 Convention may be applied in a World Heritage context. Second, the chapter examines the case study of the city of Verona. The city is both a World Heritage site inscribed in the 1972 Convention and the spatial component of the intangible cultural heritage safeguarding programme Tocatì, a shared programme for the safeguarding of traditional games and sports (Tocatì), which is currently undergoing the evaluation process for inscription in for the Register of Good Practices for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Third, and finally, this chapter concludes with an analysis of Tocatì and laws on the use of public spaces from an anthropological perspective, noting the relationship between social uses of public spaces and legal instruments.