Visioni Comuni – a participatory process for Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles” UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles” were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 24 July 2021. The serial site comprises eight locations, each featuring remarkable frescoes created by six different artists between 1302 and 1397, offering a unique and fascinating cross-section of Paduan society.

In accordance with UNESCO guidelines, the World Heritage Office of the Comune di Padova is updating the site management plan. This process also provides an excellent opportunity to strengthen community ties, gather local needs, ideas, perceptions and visions regarding heritage, and actively involve strategic stakeholders in developing and implementing initiatives to enhance and sustain the site.

BAM! has been commissioned by the Comune di Padova to design and facilitate the process of stakeholder and citizen participation, which includes a series of actions:

• public meetings and shared planning with local communities and stakeholders from cultural, social and economic sectors, designed to encourage open and constructive discussion about the future of the site;
• engagement with communities of migrant background, aimed at understanding their needs, barriers and opportunities, in order to inform targeted mediation and outreach activities;
• planning and support for the creation of a diversity board focused on accessibility and inclusiveness, which, once established, will contribute to defining the strategic guidelines of the management plan, with particular attention to areas within its remit;
• a co-design marathon with students from the Università degli Studi di Padova, aimed at extending participation to less traditional audiences;
• visits and exploratory walks, scheduled for autumn, involving families, young people, older adults and people with disabilities, aimed at gathering observations and identifying specific needs to make the sites more accessible and welcoming.

The expected outcome is a shared, inclusive Management Plan that is fully rooted in the community.

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