World Heritage and the Local Community: The Case of Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain)

CONFORTI, MARÍA EUGENIA; DÍEZ FERNÁNDEZ LOMANA CARLOS; MARIANO, MERCEDES; ENDERE, MARÍA LUZ

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites

Taylor & Francis Group

Año: 2015 vol. 17 p. 327 - 339

Revista indexada en: Indexada en: Scopus; Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts; Arts and Humanities Citation Index®; British and Irish Archaeological Abstracts; British Humanities Index; Current Contents®/Arts & Humanities; European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH PLUS). RESUMEN: As social constructions, heritage properties require the participation of all their stakeholders, especially in the case of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) World Heritage Site is used as a test case for assessing the fulfilment of the local community?s development expectations, perceptions,and values. This paper is the first formal attempt to ascertain the opinions of residents in the surrounding villages regarding the initiatives taken by the authorities, and the changes produced,since the site was included in the World Heritage List. The results show that many improvements can be made with the aim of democratizing the decision-making process, ensuring the involvement of the local community and improving their quality of life, in order to fulfil the spirit and recommendations of UNESCO.