Cultural heritage management: from aesthetic to ethic: abandoning the contemplative function of cultural heritage towards audience engagement and community-based development

Responding to the demand of innovative solutions in a field which is experiencing hectic changes in management structures, funding constraints and the lack of a systematic approach toward site maintenance, this paper explores the current gap between theory and practice in the conservation of WCHSs. We adopt a soft system approach (Checkland, 2004) and a multidisciplinary perspective to conservation management, encompassing heritage preservation, tourism studies, conservation planning and environmental studies. The paper is meant to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of public private partnership (Pessoa, A., 2010; Bovaird, 2004) in cultural heritage conservation and assess if this model is the only solution to overcome challenges faced by the philanthropic approach and the emergency intervention model based on sporadic allocations of public funds (Rojas, E. 2007). Otherwise we try to find out if a new model for conservation management (Hutchings J. and Cassar, M. 2006) is rather emerging at the theory level from crossing fields and at the empirical level from the experience of well-established organizations operating internationally on the protection and promotion of heritage sites. The case study of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the upcoming paradigm of co-management and co-production (Pestoff, 2009) are expected to point out new routes for a sustainable management of cultural heritage preservation by suggesting a hybrid model of community involvement.