The mountain areas of southwestern Europe are experiencing a critical situation of depopulation and aging, which makes it essential to revitalize their social and productive structure. This project addresses this challenge through the development of the internal potential of five pilot cases, where the aim is to enhance the value of the heritage associated with their cultural landscapes as a tool for social innovation that offers new development opportunities to mountain communities, improving their quality of life, territorial cohesion and the development of new economic resources.
In recent decades, archaeological research in mountainous regions of southwestern Europe has shown that these are not only natural and biodiverse areas, but also contain an important cultural legacy resulting from the intense human activity that has shaped these cultural landscapes over time. However, this cultural heritage characteristic of mountain areas is little known and has been undervalued as a tool for the revitalization, innovation and sustainable transformation of these territories.
It is proposed to enhance the value of mountain cultural landscapes and their heritage to offer new development opportunities to local communities. This will improve their quality of life, reinforce territorial cohesion and diversify services and employment options in the territory, boosting the self-esteem of the local population and increasing the capacity of public bodies to attract visitors, integrate new populations and attract young people to their territories.
The creation of an international cooperative network linked to mountain cultural landscapes landmark for the development of joint strategies between Spain, Portugal and France for the enhancement and use of cultural heritage as a resource for sustainable territorial development.
