Cultural Sustainability from the Local Perspective: The Example of Transhumance in South Tyrol

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding of cultural sustainability in mountain regions by offering perspectives for sustainable governance at the intersection of intangible cultural heritage preservation and local tourism development. For this purpose, the influence of tourism on intangible cultural heritage was studied in the context of the practice of transhumance, an ancient form of pastoralism. This paper focuses on the case of South Tyrol, Italy, a touristically highly developed region where cross-border transhumance was granted intangible cultural heritage status by UNESCO in 2019. Adopting a qualitative approach, 13 interviews were conducted with cattle and sheep farmers, cultural practitioners, and experts as well as tourism representatives. Highlighting the benefits of including culture in the discussion about sustainability, the paper seeks to inform local governance measures for enhanced cultural heritage preservation and sustainable tourism.

A Virtual Experience System of Bamboo Weaving for Sustainable Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage Based on VR Technology

“…From the perspective of display and diffusion, the digitization of ICH is mainly based on digital repositories through the Internet, integrated media, artificial intelligence, and other media to empower applications in industries such as cultural and museum industries, tourism, and enterprise management. The specific forms of digitization of ICH mainly focus on digital image-based content display, such as digital restoration of scenes in folklore museums, VR panoramic immersive experiences [21][22][23], AR interactive scene construction [24][25][26][27][28], virtual platform building [29,30], animation game application development [31][32][33][34][35][36][37], and network media content display [38][39][40], such as the live broadcast of inheritors' work sites through short video platforms.…”

“…The digital inheritance and innovation of ICH can generate new value from the future digitally empowered ICH projects. This means building a smart industrial system from the application of digital storage technology to poverty alleviation in digital industry, smart travel system [29,41,42], online intangible digital education [43,44], product-aided design systems [45][46][47][48], and so on. Numerous cultural contents, humanistic spirit, and economic values are created accordingly to adapt to the development of the era.…”

Research in tourism sustainability: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis from 1990 to 2022

“…The second topic is cultural sustainability , which focuses on preserving and promoting cultural heritage while supporting local development. Ghirardello et al [ 92 ] explore the relationship between tourism and intangible cultural heritage and proposes ways to promote sustainable governance that considers cultural heritage preservation while supporting local tourism development. Gonçalves et al [ 93 ] highlights the importance of using digital technologies to promote cultural heritage and engage visitors in meaningful experiences.…”

Understanding old herbal secrets: The renaissance of traditional medicinal plants beyond the twenty classic species?

“…However, the established education activities have not been subject of (published) research so it remains unknown whether the knowledge shared in all these activities is also used in the daily life of participants (I2). Moreover, there is ambivalent interaction between cultural practice and the tourism, as has already been critically discussed with regard to the role of minority languages (Ladin in case of some South Tyrolean valleys; Lonardi and Unterpertinger, 2022) or festivals associated to South Tyrolean transhumance (Ghirardello et al, 2022). While these have been marketed for tourism, enhance awareness and can provide an additional income for the local community, they also detach customs from original practices, even alienate them from the local actors' day-to-day lives by "spectacularizing" such folklore elements and thus ultimately eroding a distinct intangible heritage tradition.…”

“…Accordingly, unique medical customs and traditions developed, and medicinal plants became an integral part of the culture (Pickl-Herk, 1995). The attractive landscape, traditional culture and knowledge such as land-use techniques (e.g., transhumance) and costumes have made South Tyrol a well-known tourist destination (Kreisel and Reeh, 2011;Ghirardello et al, 2022).…”