Action Research for the Conservation of Architectural Heritage in Inner Areas: Towards a Methodological Framework

Based on the acknowledgment of architectural heritage role for sustainable territorial development, the international scientific debate and the related official documents have stressed the importance of communities’ engagement in its conservation in the last decades. However, despite the wide recognition of the benefits from communities’ active participation in conservation activities, their engagement is still marginal in practice and related to spontaneous experiences with no institutional support. Thus, it is urgent to properly ground conservation decision processes on communities’ engagement, especially in marginal areas, where the ongoing demographic shrinking phenomena call for local communities’ centrality in planning strategies. Based on these premises, the paper proposes a methodological framework to guide Action Research approaches to architectural heritage conservation in inner areas. It moves from investigating the importance of communities’ engagement in heritage conservation and enhancement with a particular focus on inner areas’ territorial dimension. Then, it analyzes the possible research approaches to conservation issues and identifies the most suitable one into the Action Research approach. Consequently, it delves into the theoretical groundings and main features of Action-Research processes to propose a methodological framework for supporting communities’ engagement in conservation. Finally, the implications of adopting such a methodological framework are discussed, including the possible room for improvement and the critical aspects of its effective implementation