Rooting empowering reactivating. Rehabilitation of traditional heritage and local development

Can the rehabilitation of traditional heritage through the conservation, transmission, and adaptation of traditional construction techniques, represents an opportunity for the local development of marginal places? Rooting empowering reactivating focuses on the intersection of heritage and local development, delving into the interactions between NGOs, communities, minor heritage recovery and possibilities for inclusive local development and reactivation. The intersection was analysed by adopting a multidisciplinary and multicriterial analysis of the the unconventional practices of community-rooted rehabilitation of some international NGOs invited to the contributed to the series of seminars on the Rehabilitation of traditional heritage and local development (RTHLD, 2019-2022). The NGOs involved in this series of seminars operate mainly in the restoration of minor, diffuse, and non-monumental heritage, that is functional and aimed at satisfying basic needs. The rehabilitated heritage is often located in marginal places, that have experienced strong migratory phenomena in recent decades. Depopulation was often coupled with a radical change in lifestyles, which have altered the rhythms of living, the bonds, and the reciprocity links between villagers that used to allow survival in such contexts. Local society has dissolved, and consequently the collective care and maintenance of heritage and places has faded. Next to this, inhabitants often show a lack of interest in taking care of a heritage, both because it is linked to imaginaries of poverty and backwardness, and as a consequence of a decrease in manual skills and traditional knowledge. Communities are often no longer considered autonomous regarding the technical management of their own heritage and in many instances the intervention by outsiders has been instrumental, if not necessary, to conserve, protect, rehabilitate, and transmit a heritage that would otherwise probably no longer exist today. NGOs however have set themselves the objective of not only preventing the loss of artefacts and the local building knowledge associated with them, but also of traditions, social ties, and ways of living. In this sense, heritage restoration and recovery of traditional practices can represent a strategy to promoting living again in marginal places, as well as reactivating the local community. This requires a holistic approach, an in-depth knowledge of local needs and aspirations, and also a broad and transversal view. The aim of this book is to widen the debate on these topics by providing concrete examples of practices of high human and social quality, and to reinforce the role and consciousness of NGOs, showing how their work can have an impact on the preservation and adaptation of heritage and traditions, on community empowerment, as well as on the overall future of marginal places. The intent behind is to establish a connection and stimulate a dialogue between practitioners and academia, bringing together different forms of knowledge: NGOs offered knowledge based on practical experience, and academics methodological insights and theoretical references. The book is divided into three main parts: a multidisciplinary reading scheme that can support residents, NGOs and institutions involved in community promotion and reactivation processes through actions on their habitat – whether at a practical, academic or institutional level; a collection of heritage recovery and local reactivation actions by the members of NGOs invited to the seminars; the debate between practitioners and academics on fundamental issues such as tourism, empowerment of local communities, multidisciplinarity, innovation, generative potential, to name but a few.