Cultural heritage and smart specialisation – 3rd edition

Aimed at the valorisation of human capital, the third professional training course on “Cultural Heritage and Intelligent Specialisation” was held at the University of Évora from May 15 to 26, 2017, and coordinated by the UNESCO Chair holder Prof. Filipe Themudo Barata.

The course foresaw the exchange of experiences, not only facilitated through field trips to protected heritage sites, but also through encounters with professionals in the area of study and the administration of classes and related workshops. The overall purpose was to discuss alternatives for the development of a sustainable cultural economy in a World Heritage city like Évora and in a region with great cultural consistency.

The programme included the following topics:

  1. Visiting the city: learning how to really look at people, communities and places
    Improve the capacity of observation through our eyes and the lenses of cameras and videos
  2. Multimedia and heritage: data handling
    Processing of the data collected through multimedia systems. The importance of working towards a synthesis via images
  3. Museums and intangible heritage
    Intangible heritage and the strategies for its preservation. The role of museums
  4. Workshop: The range of heritage issues, or how to set up platforms for the structuring of information
  5. Cultural and creative industries
    An expanding new sector capable of linking heritage to different sectors of the economy
  6. Workshop: Cultural policies of heritage valorisation and the constructed heritage in these new contexts
  7. Landscape and heritage: unifying concepts and observation
    Landscape and cultural landscapes as heritage values. Strategies for the preservation and valorisation of landscapes
  8. Our cities and the need of new approaches to urban planning
    Old and new ways of urban intervention. Visitors and residents: the need for inclusive policies and the role of heritage. Tools of intervention.
  9. Debate: study, live and manage the city
  10. Culture and smart specialisation models
    What is smart specialisation? How can social cohesion, heritage valorisation and new economic challenges be combined?

Exhibition “Photographic notes on a World Heritage city”

During the first part of the course programme, the participants were challenged to take photographs of the city of Évora, in order to “learn how to really look at people, communities and places”. This experience resulted in the exhibition “Photografic notes on a World Heritage city”.