The Role of Public-Private Partnerships and the Third Sector in Conserving Heritage Buildings, Sites, and Historic Urban Areas

The conservation of cultural heritage requires the involvement of multiple actors from across the public, private, and nongovernmental, or third, sectors, not only to initiate and carry out conservation but also to sustain heritage places. The conservation of the historic urban environment poses specific and urgent challenges that require a multidisciplinary approach in which conservation actions are embedded within economic, social, and environmental development strategies....
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The conservation of cultural heritage requires the involvement of multiple actors from across the public, private, and nongovernmental, or third, sectors, not only to initiate and carry out conservation but also to sustain heritage places. The conservation of the historic urban environment poses specific and urgent challenges that require a multidisciplinary approach in which conservation actions are embedded within economic, social, and environmental development strategies. Increasingly, the private and third sectors are playing a pivotal role in these processes. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are contractual arrangements in which the private and/or third sector assists in delivering a public facility or service by providing funding or operating leadership. The third sector, which may include heritage-related NGOs, as well as people living near a heritage site, is of particular relevance to PPPs used for heritage conservation. This publication focuses specifically on the use of PPPs for historic buildings and historic urban areas, and is targeted to those working in the cultural heritage sector. It draws on existing literature, which it aims to make more accessible to those interested in cultural heritage conservation. While providing information on the basic concepts of public-private partnerships and the roles and responsibilities of the partners in a PPP, this is not a guide to the use of PPPs. It discusses the types of PPPs that have been used to conserve historic buildings and historic urban areas, provides specific examples of where and how they have been used, and demonstrates ways in which PPP mechanisms have met conservation goals. This publication also makes some limited observations on the aims of PPPs drawn from the literature, from published case studies, and from a few further case study investigations. This publication draws on English-language works produced between 1992 and 2012, but concentrates on the more recent literature. Much of this material is from the Australia, the United Kingdom, and other European nations that have been the most active in conducting PPPs for heritage resources and in publishing information about these projects. This overview includes an extensive bibliography and provides some suggestions of topics for further research.