Il patrimonio del motorismo: la valorizzazione e le prospettive di designazione UNESCO

The transformations addressed by transportation on wheels - not only at the factory leve/, but even in terms of showrooms, garages, parking lots, filling stations, as we/1 as national infrastructure including works of engineering such as highways, viaducts, and tunnels - have had substantial impact on the environment and landscape far aver a century. The automotive industry has left - and keeps leaving - indelible marks, spanning from the merely technological aspects to the social-cultural aspects, but the recognition and the insertion in a historic context of such "new" industry starting in the late 19th century is sti/1 /imited. The perception of its heritage as a collective historic value only emerged in the late 20th century, under different perspectives and levels of global significance: the territorial brand heritage that distinguished the past and future corporate brand perspectives in traditional manufacturing areas (Detroit, Turin, Nagoya, Wolfsburg, Gothenburg ... ); the social-economic potential of preservation far temporary and adaptive reuse, as we/1 as urban regeneration and redevelopment; the raie of collecting and associations; the growing and universal presence of automotive museums to improve industriai tourism related to the field. While the trend in historic vehicle restoration grew in the 1960s, at the same time the period saw uncontrolled demolition of historic sites of manufacturing and promotion of automobile culture, as we/1 as transformations that only very partially maintained elements of heritage. Although the sector has been essential in the 19th and 20th century, the UNESCO framework programme has never considered the inclusion of related sites in the World Heritage List, a single initiative was included in the Memory of the World Programme, and no initiatives were included in the lntangible Cultura/ Heritage pool. On the other hand, due to their history of technical know-how and design, cities with great automotive tradition are substantially represented in the Creative Cities Network. This paper sets out to analyse the potenti al of the UNESCO framework programme for the promotion, preservation, and conveyance of the multiple forms of cultura/ automotive heritage.