Waving back: Reflections on the WaVE project and perspectives on the future of water-linked heritage

WaVE stands for Water-linked heritage Valorization by developing an Ecosystemic approach. This Interreg Europe project brought together five European locations that have in common a rich history of cultural heritage in which water plays an important role. WaVE’s main goal was to exchange knowledge and insight across those territories to promote integrated adaptive reuses of water-linked cultural heritage sites. The approach used during the project integrated water-linked heritage valorisation with ecosystemic change for sustainable regional and urban futures. The ecosystemic approach advocated by WaVE entails considering water-linked heritage in a holistic way, connecting the tangible, intangible, and natural heritage values and harnessing its power as a catalyst for integrated, place-based, and participatory strategies promoting sustainability and addressing the wider socio-economic and environmental challenges faced by cities and regions.

This document presents five key messages formulated on the basis of the actions developed by the partners during the project, combined with the observation of the knowledge transfer processes that led to the elaboration of the action plans, and the insights from the debates during the project events. It provides an overview of the state of play in heritage valorisation policies across the WaVE’s five locations and trends therein while summarising the changes in each of them towards an ecosystemic approach to water-linked heritage. The document concludes with a reflection on the challenges and outlook for the partners and lessons from WaVE in the wider European perspective.