The bottom-up and top-down dichotomy is nonetheless an oversimplification of the nuances at play in these processes. What really matters is a meaningful interaction between the administrative bodies at different levels and civil society agents. Good heritage management and sound city planning call for the people in charge to listen to citizens actively and seriously in a cooperative manner – avoiding a hierarchical approach. In an ideal case, listening should take place before any planning process, or the need to initiate a planning process arises. A prominent way to do this is called ‘place mapping’ or ‘cultural planning’, a process that aims to survey the cultural resources of a particular place. To this end, Lia Ghilardi, Kirsti Kovanen, Maarit Kahila, Marketta Kyttä and Pilvi Nummi present effective tools for place mapping in their articles. It appears that establishing participatory heritage governance calls for positive activities both from the administration and from civil society. The administration can be active by arranging opportunities for citizens to participate and by supporting the initiatives emerging from civil society. Civil society and individuals, for their part, should be proactive, creative and well organised in order to be effective. Many of the articles in this volume that describe bottom-up success stories are also stories about establishing a very strong and meaningful organisation where an individual has enough autonomy to stay motivated and enjoy their volunteering work together with others. Erik Schultz and Christian Sannemann write about their experiences of building a good organisation and developing cooperation with official power holders. Heritage administrators and citizens should join forces to support heritage, pooling their often scarce resources. Both should be more proactive than reactive, in order to avoid a negative label. An organisation that constantly says ‘no’ to development projects will inevitably appear highly negative in the long run. The best way of preserving heritage is not to react only when disaster is imminent, but to show people the treasures they possess beforehand, so that it would not – we hope – enter anybody’s head to destroy such a source of prestige and positive identification. In this respect, the administration can form a winning alliance with citizens. For example, European Heritage Days is an excellent tool for introducing heritage sites to citizens. People often need guidance to see the many different types of value connected to heritage. Heritage is not always something that is celebrated in books, exhibitions and documentaries. Many an important piece of heritage is not recognised as such before someone discovers it and points out its value. Examples abound all over the world. In Finland, two cases in point are the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old Rauma and the industrial heritage of Tampere – once sadly neglected and under threat, now highly valued and celebrated cultural tourism destinations.
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