Chair coordinator, Dr. Silvia De Ascaniis, visited Suwon Hwaseong, Republic of Korea, where she was invited to participate in the 1st edition of the People-Nature-Culture (PNC) Forum. The Forum was organized by World Heritage Leadership Programme – a joint ICCROM-IUCN capacity building programme funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment – in cooperation with the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage (KNUCH) and with the support of the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) who generously contributed to the 2017-2022 Korea-ICCROM Funds in Trust.
The theme of this first edition of the PNC Forum is “Benefits of heritage to people”. By bringing together a group of heritage practitioners and institutions that have been working on the implementation of PNC course and other key capacity building activities in the past 5 years, the PNC Forum aimed at mapping the range of benefits heritage places provide to people, allowing a better understanding of how heritage contributes to the life and livelihood of people and communities.
Dr. De Ascaniis gave a presentation on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to increase access to information about heritage sites, to enhance the connection between different stakeholders, and to disintermediate activities that might contribute to the sustainable development of local communities. ICTs were considered also as a source of data about visitors’ experience, which can then be used to inform management practices.