Supporting the Management Plan of a World Heritage Site Nomination Through a Multi-step Evaluation Approach

The nomination of a site to the World Heritage List must be supported by a nomination document and a management plan. The management plan emphasizes the Outstanding Universal Value of the site, as well as it defines protection objectives and how to pursue them. However, neither UNESCO documents nor research applications provide a shared framework for the tools or methodologies that can support the different phases of the management plan. Within this context, the present paper started with an analysis of both management plans already implemented for UNESCO-listed sites and contributions provided by research applications. The result of this in-depth analysis suggests the proposal of a multi-step approach able to guide the entire decision-making process and to support the development of the management plan of a World Heritage Site nomination required by the World Heritage Convention. This approach could rep-resent a guiding tool for researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers in the case of real-world site nomination and management for the World Heritage List. The mixed-method approach proposed starts with framing and structuring goals, objectives and values, as well as actors and stakeholders involved, and ends with the design, evaluation and monitoring of the project strategies. In particular, the proposed methodology for developing the management plan of a World Heritage-nominated site is constituted by four main working phases: (1) the problem framing and structuring, (2) the analysis of risks and resources, (3) the design of the strategies, and (4) the evaluation and monitor-ing phase. Each of these phases is supported by specific assessment methods and tools, both qualitative and quantitative.