The Council of Europe’s Culture and Cultural Heritage Division has, in the framework of its Joint project with the European Union: “The Faro Way: enhanced participation in cultural heritage”, produced a new publication entitled “The Faro Convention at work in Europe: selected examples”.

This publication seeks to highlight several cultural heritage initiatives from groups of practitioners and facilitators of heritage-led and people-centred activities, which add value to their local heritage in line with the principles and criteria of the Faro Convention.

The Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (the Faro Convention) proposes acting with and for society: it encourages reflection on the role of citizens in the process of defining, deciding and managing the cultural environment in which they live. By asking why and for whom cultural heritage should be enhanced, the Faro Convention proposes innovative approaches for preserving cultural heritage, by promoting the latter as a resource for mobilizing citizens when implementing public action to face societal challenges, individually or collectively. The capacity of civil society initiatives drawn on Faro principles to propose practical solutions based on greater community participation can contribute to addressing today’s complex socio-economic problems.