Calling on the Community: Understanding Participation in the Heritage Sector, an Interactive Governance Perspective

There is a call in Heritage Studies to democratize heritage practices and place local communities at the forefront; heritage plays an important role in identity formation, and therefore in social inclusion and exclusion. Public participation is often presented as the primary means to prioritize communities. However, studies focusing on public participation are typically descriptive in nature and lack a strong analytical framework that enables us to understand participation. The essays in this volume apply Public Administration theory to collaborative governance and thus contribute to a better understanding of public participation in the heritage sector.

Jeroen Rodenberg is a lecturer and PhD candidate at the Department of Public Administration and Political Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research interests are heritage governance and policy and the history of public administration. He is involved in the pan-European research and training project on heritage planning Heriland.

Pieter Wagenaar is an assistant professor at the Department of Public Administration and Political Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research interests are the history of administration and the administration of history. At current he focuses on interactive governance in the heritage sector

Gert-Jan Burgers has a chair in Heritage of Cultural Landscapes and Urban Environments at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is also director of CLUE+, the Vrije Universiteit interfaculty research institute for Culture, Cognition, History and Heritage.