The new challenges of cultural heritage management in urban areas: strategic plans and cultural districts

Abstract

In the last decade the management of cultural heritage has assumed new challenges and objectives that need to be studied as a whole. These changes are specially related to the economic exploitation of heritage, its use as symbolic and public image of the city and the territory, and its interrelation with other cultural dimensions. This article exposes these new objectives and challenges, and the impact that they have in the protection and characterization of cultural heritage, giving as an example two of the latest models of cultural management and cultural heritage management that many Spanish and European cities have adopted: strategic planning and cultural districts.