Crespi d’Adda, Italy: the management plan as an opportunity to deal with change

This paper describes the elaboration of the management plan for the UNESCO World Heritage site of Crespi d’Adda, a late-nineteenth-century company town that was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1995 due to the integrity of its urban structure and the functional continuity of its productive and residential system. At the time of inscription, a management plan was not mandatory, and inscription did not produce a real development strategy able to counter the risks arising from de-industrialisation. The management plan preparation, launched in 2007, was assumed to represent an opportunity to ensure both protection and sustainable evolution. The process of elaboration made it necessary to promote coordination and dialogue among different institutions. This permitted enhancement of local governance. Moreover, the management plan acted as a framework within which to set guidelines for intervention on the external and internal features of the buildings, aimed at preserving the values of the site through the implementation of good practices.