Title: How diverse is the World Heritage list?

Authors: Donatella Saccone; Walter Santagata

Addresses: Department of Economics 'Cognetti de Martiis' and Silvia Santagata Research Centre, University of Torino, Via Po 53, 10124, Torino, Italy. ' Department of Economics 'Cognetti de Martiis' and Silvia Santagata Research Centre, University of Torino, Via Po 53, 10124, Torino, Italy

Abstract: The aim of the paper is twofold. First, we measure the degree of cultural diversity on the World Heritage list, considering both geographical and chronological unbalances. Second, we estimate the number of sites that would guarantee the highest level of cultural diversity and, then, we propose to increase the quality of the World Heritage list through a tournament model. The results show that, even if cultural diversity attained a good level, notable geographical unbalances overstayed and further improvement may be achieved by increasing the number of sites filling cultural categories still not represented. This would result in 358 new properties.

Keywords: cultural diversity; geographical unbalances; international policies; World Heritage List; cultural heritage; natural heritage; universal value; cultural significance; physical significance; cultural sites; natural sites; UNESCO; UN; United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization; chronological unbalances; tournament models; cultural categories; Middle East; North Africa; Europe; Asia; Oceania; SSA; Sub-Saharan Africa; America; public policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2012.048723

International Journal of Public Policy, 2012 Vol.8 No.4/5/6, pp.337 - 361

Received: 17 Oct 2011
Accepted: 05 Jun 2012
Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

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