A historic town centers local economic activities and has a significant concentration of heritage structures. Such a place or historic core generally has a definite identity—a distinct townscape character worthy of preservation. It has been proven through several studies that cultural heritage has value and the ability to be a significant component of community development, provided it is properly maintained. This chapter aims to identify the prime movers of the heritage economy and utilize the potential of heritage towns to retain and enhance the role of heritage in its stakeholders' social and economic lives. Based on an extensive systematic literature review, the role of entrepreneurship in the heritage economy and various parameters that contribute to the economic assessment of heritage towns are explored. The proposed methodological framework contributes to identifying techniques for assessing the economic value of heritage towns for local economic development.
Top1. Introduction
A heritage town centers local economic activities and has a significant concentration of heritage structures. Such towns or historic cores generally have a definite identity - a distinct townscape character and image of the city worth preserving. Hence, in addition to its economic importance, the place gains a symbolic value that attributes common identities to its citizens. In their urge to develop, the inheritance from the past takes a backseat, allowing space for new developments (P.C. Guzmán, 2016). Such growth often results in a paradoxical situation. The need for a high return on economic values creates pressure for change, demolition, and renewal. The stress is further aggravated if any part of the historical fabric is marked by obsolescence.
On the other hand, the place's historical, townscape, or symbolic values urge its preservation. The idea of heritage has expanded over the past several decades, including both tangible and intangible cultural legacy, also increasing interest in extensive knowledge of the role heritage plays in our society (Babic, 2015). The major challenges historic towns face is to accommodate the ever-increasing pressure of economics and rejuvenating the existing fabric such that they become an integral part of the continuity of modern life. With appropriate policies and programs, it is possible to balance preservation and conservation issues with modern economic requirements. Heritage has unquestionably become one of the most critical drivers of global tourism.
The intrinsic aspect of small heritage towns is their significant historical value, and their economy is highly dependent on heritage, tourism, and cultural entrepreneurship. The heritage conservation aspect for small heritage towns has a significant linkage with the economic competitiveness of the area and their current standing in an economic value assessment framework. However, such a technique of heritage value assessment needs to be more present in small and more significant heritage towns (Florentina-Cristina Merciu, 2021). Hence it is difficult for such towns to understand their status and which sectors to invest in and improve on for enhanced economic development.
The significance of cultural components to the economic performance of towns has grown during the last several years. This tendency is strongly linked to urban cultural hotspots and tourism. Although cultural attractions, locations, and monuments dominated early cultural/heritage tourism efforts, it is evident that gradually performing arts, handicrafts, and other intangible cultural heritage has begun to attain great significance. The success of cultural destinations largely depends on their favorable economic impact and the long-term contribution they can provide toward regional economic growth (Alvaro Fierro, 2018).
There are plenty of entrepreneurship opportunities if the benefaction of resources is rightly executed in identified heritage areas. Since the economy is an integral part of any development process, there is an extreme need to identify a path for integrating entrepreneurship avenues with the local economy, thereby promoting the growth of local services and industry at the front end and having access to ample funds for maintenance and upkeep of heritage structures in the back end. Various studies and reports show that various small heritage towns in India must exhibit a frame to integrate all these aspects (Reher, 2021).
This highlights the need for economic value assessment. Heritage economic value assessments can play a vital role in realizing the level of acceptance of a particular heritage ecosystem to the stakeholders when compared with similar systems. There is a need for such systems to be modeled for heritage towns that will pave the way for self-assessment of such towns as well as help them to identify benchmarks to prosper and establish themselves economically in the national and global arena (Vegheș, 2018)