Focusing on people: community engagement in cultural heritage as a resource for recovery

Cultural heritage could be a resource for restarting after the current pandemic crisis. Specifically, World Heritage properties and their wider settings can play a significant role in socio-economic reconstruction and, thus, contributing to recovery. Furthermore, cultural heritage can support the creation of social cohesion empowering local communities and help them to overcome the pain. This contribution examines some of the best practices implemented to engage civil society in the enhancement of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a strategic tool for recovery after the current pandemic crisis, past conflicts and disasters. Shifting the focus to people and include them in activities concerning cultural heritage could be the solution to cope with the consequences of crises, and it could represent a resource for strengthening civil society resilience.