Cultural heritage sustainability operationalization in European Funding Programmes: a benchmarking analysis

Cultural heritage is a central asset for the development of every society. In particular, the EU supports its sustainable development, thanks to quest for a widespread integration between policies, countries, areas, actions, and stakeholders. But how much has the EU made the sustainability of cultural heritage operational in practice? A benchmarking analysis conducted on the policy guidelines and on sustainable tourism financing programs answers this question. The analysis identifies a constant evolution towards a greater operationalization of the sustainability issue by the EU, with different traits depending on the specific sustainable objective. In addition, the adoption of an impact measurement methodology, including the indicators suggested by the funding programs, appear as inconsistent with the phenomenon, i.e. sustainable development, that it aims at measuring. The road that remains to be taken towards sustainability is still long