Planning and commitment in cultural heritage projects

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to generate insights into the planning process for reusing cultural heritage within urban redevelopment projects and identifies barriers to and drivers for stakeholder commitment. Design/methodology/approach – Characteristics of five Dutch urban redevelopment projects with built cultural heritage are studied in terms of the context, interaction and commitment. The findings are confronted with insights from urban planning literature. Findings – The study shows that although there is a strong belief in the added value of reusing cultural heritage, dealing with uncertainty over costs and benefits associated with heritage transformation is a major barrier. There is no standard planning strategy to deal with these issues. Further, we could not identify a direct link between the planning strategy used and the commitment of key stakeholders. Nevertheless, it seems that a shared framework and a shared belief in the heritage's added value are vital. Research limitations/implications – The study has an explorative character meaning that further analysis is needed to gain a greater understanding on how planning strategies affect stakeholder commitment in cultural heritage projects. As only cases in the Netherlands are studied, institutional differences are not considered. Practical implications – This study can help practitioners to develop planning strategies by offering insight into a number of barriers and dilemmas that need to be overcome in the planning process. Originality/value – This study explains why the presence of cultural heritage creates difficulties in adapting available planning tools and in developing new sustainable strategic planning approaches.