La valorisation économique du patrimoine

Abstract

This research considers cultural heritage as a resource, which could help the economic development of a territory. Its objective is to identify through different pluralistic criteria and key indicators the main economical advantages that could be gained through a sound preservation of cultural heritage. The main assumption in this research is in effect, related to the positive impact of cultural heritage on its territory. The development of this latter is directly related to that of cultural heritage and its integration in the main development process. The national park of Tlemcen, a park listed as a natural cultural heritage is used a case study to demonstrate the potentials of this park and its impact on the wilaya’s development, image and urban branding. This case study is also used as an opportunity to explore different evaluation technics. In Algeria, the main actions on cultural heritage are usually restricted to its conservation. The State is the only stakeholder and there are hardly any economical strategies related to the cultural heritage itself or to its environment. Through this research, we introduced different approaches to help in the evaluation of cultural heritage as a resource. Hence, the contingent evaluation method (CEM) was used to evaluate people’s willingness to contribute to the preservation of the national park. The contingent evaluation method shows a favorable readiness of the population to contribute through voluntary work in the valorization of their environement. It givesan estimated monetary value contribution through the value given by the visitors to cultural and natural heritage sites. The economic development strategy of the heritage of Tlemcen, proposed at the end of this study, presents a new set of t actions based on the active involvement of different actors. Several tools, as well as indicators are also proposed to help the preservation of cultural and natural heritage in a perspective of economic development. The links between heritage and territory are also deeply analyzed through a matrix of heritage assessment. The benefit of this matrix is to guide decision making in the context of heritage projects and develop perspective of territorial development. This research is among the first contributions in Algeria that aim at integrating heritage as a resource for a sustainable development of their territories.