Cultural Heritage Through the “Youth Eyes”: Towards Participatory Governance and Management of UNESCO Sites

Reinterpreting the Cultural Heritage (CH) in the light of the perceived cultural values and expectations of local communities is a significant challenge for politicians and city managers, particularly in UNESCO sites, due to the universal cultural value that they have embed. From our theoretical perspective, individual cultural values are the basis to build on, to create a shared understanding of CH, which, in turn, drives local communities to safeguard and regenerate their cultural commons. The Urbino perBene—Urbino forGood project, launched in 2017 by the municipality of Urbino, under the patronage of the Italian Minister for Culture and Tourism and UNESCO, offers a laboratory for the exploration and profound understanding of how a World Heritage Site is experienced and perceived by residents and students and how the public administration has intervened to reconcile multiple and often conflicting interests. Through our research, we have found that without a real understanding of the values and needs of the local communities, in particular the youth, it is difficult to achieve the cultural, economic, social and environmental impacts that institutions expect from investments in CH and that should support the sustainable development and regeneration of the city’s fabric.