In Search of Participatory Sustainable Cultural Paths at the Local Level—The Case of Kissamos Province-Crete

Sustainable cultural heritage management is nowadays considered as a key driver for regions’ development and flourish, lying at the heart of planning and decision-making exercises in many peripheral and insular communities around the globe. These planning efforts and related policies are focusing on building integrated cultural development paths by taking advantage of local natural and cultural resources’ availability; while engaging citizens and stakeholders in order for local views, visions, perceptions, expectations etc. to be effectively embedded in the final planning outcome. Along these lines, the present paper focuses on the development and implementation of a participatory methodological framework for setting strategic guidelines for the sustainable cultural development of a specific area, the Province of Kissamos-Crete. The particular framework is actively engaging local stakeholders’ groups throughout the steps of the planning process. GIS-mapping of natural and cultural resources sets the ground of this participatory planning exercise, upon which the structuring of two scenarios, regarding the sustainable exploitation of cultural reserve, is based, presenting discrete options for successfully linking cultural preservation and alternative tourism development. Stakeholders’ analysis reveals potential conflicts between local views and planning objectives as well as opposing interests among local groups that need to be properly managed through the planning process; while engagement of various interest groups strengthens insight into the value and diversity of this heritage; and properly directs the process of scenario building and evaluation towards widely acceptable cultural management outcomes.