The newly adopted September report of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities “Culture without borders: Cultural heritage management for local and regional development” focuses on the importance of cultural heritage as a socio-economic catalyser and as a powerful tool for sustainable development, highlighting the role of Cultural Routes for local communities. In the report, the Congress calls on local and regional authorities of its member States to join the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe networks crossing their territories. As explained, Cultural Routes allow for cultural heritage to have a significant social and economic impact on society, thus becoming part of the social contract.

The report highlights a member State initiative in the fields of Cultural Routes: in Georgia, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport  (now Minsitry of of Culture, Sport and Youth) signed with the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) a memorandum of understanding on the promotion of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme in February 2020.

Several Cultural Routes are mentioned as examples to illustrate the resolutions on cultural heritage management for local and regional development, such as the Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes (development of a network of small and medium sized businesses), the European Route of Jewish Heritage (reconciliation of narratives by facilitating both locally and transnationally the expression and exchanges of those narratives), the Prehistoric Rock Art Trails (social inclusion as a fuel for small business formation, creativity and innovation) and ATRIUM - Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century In Europe's Urban Memory (allowing younger generations to have a better understanding of the past and exploring new ways of ethical and responsible storytelling).

Finally, the report stresses the importance of creating University networks on European cultural heritage, giving the example of the University Network for Cultural Route studies.

The full report is available here.