A Model and Tool for Community Engagement Case Study: Community Engagement in the Bisotun World Heritage Site

Abstract: Including local participation in cultural heritage management has always been a concern since the Venice Charter so far (1964). In addition, the Faro Convention (2005) shifted focus from cultural heritage values to the values of cultural heritage for society. In this case, it is necessary to achieve the maximum engagement of stakeholders in all stages of management. Nowadays, the concept of community engagement in all stages of cultural heritage management is accepted for almost everyone. But the idea of citizen participation is a little like eating spinach: no one is against it in principle because it is good for you. If we accept that community engagement is good for us, the problem is how to let people participate? Not only communities are not very aware of their rights on their cultural heritage, but also cultural heritage authorities are unwilling to involve people in their decision-making process. Suppose, in an ideal society of course, people know that the cultural heritage is their properties and they would like to manage their assets by themselves, and authorities have realized that they are not omni-knowledge and omni-potent, there is still an unsolved problem, no one knows how we want to implement a people-centered approach in cultural heritage context. This how is referring to two main issues related to community engagement approach; lack of recognized method, on the one hand, and determining an appropriate tool, on the other hand. This paper is proposing a practical model and a simple tool for including local community in decision-making process in the Bisotun World heritage Site.