Old Havana: Community Participation, Gentrification and Inequality
Old Havana: Community Participation, Gentrification and Inequality

Summary/Abstract: In the summer of 2016, the Havana’s Historian Office and the Cultural HeritageManagement research group of the Complutense University of Madrid carried out a field study and survey of the inhabitants of Old Havana. The objective was to identify the problems and necessities of the respected people, but in relation to their Cultural Heritage. Havana’s heritage management plan hasbeen a paradigm of community involvement and participation for decades.The locals living in the city are aware of the importance of their heritage, they value it and it is part of their lives. However, there is also a growing scepticismamong World Heritage Status of the city, the increasing mass tourism and the priorities on the restauration of buildings. A survey was carried out amongdifferent neighbours in the city that faced different realities and paradigmswhen it came to the nature of their heritage and the management of it. Thesurvey focused on the perception of the people on the situation, not onlytheir opinion on how the heritage was being managed, but also on how itinfluenced their lives. The views on the World Heritage defined basically twovery different realities: the proud Havana, the one where the developmentis bringing benefits (cultural, economic, aesthetical…) and the sceptic one,the ones that wonder how a mess such as Old Havana could be heritage ofhumankind, when it is not local heritage.

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