How Cultural Tourism Management Initiatives Come to Light Starting from Local Needs: The Case of the Crespi D'Adda Company Town

The article illustrates the interactions and connections between the activities performed within the Horizon2020 project TExTOUR-Social Innovation and Technologies for sustainable growth though participative cultural TOURism-by the Italian partners on the Pilot site of Crespi d'Adda (UNESCO WHS) and the process for the definition of the UNESCO Management Plan for the same site. The timing of the two initiatives allowed to have a continuous exchange of information and, besides the useful integration between the two processes, the main result was that the actions identified within the TExTOUR project, through a bottom-up approach, were included in the Management Plan as a contribution from the European Project. The Management Plan is aimed at defining coordinated activities for the preservation and conservation of the cultural site and the promotion of cultural values. It includes the strategy design and the definition of specific initiatives through the involvement of local stakeholders and residents. Some of the actions that emerged in the TExTOUR project working group, also attended by some of the stakeholders of the Crespi d'Adda site, were included among the actions envisaged by the new UNESCO Management Plan. The paper explains both the participatory processes and the way the actions were identified and customized.