From Planning to Management of Cultural Heritage Sites: Controversies and Conflicts Between Unesco WHL Management Plans and Local Spatial Planning in South-Eastern Sicily

The paper investigates the relationship between the preservation of cultural heritage and planning in UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites, with special reference to the relation be- tween Management Plans and other (local and regional) planning instruments and policies able to influence the promotion of sustainable and responsible development. This will be explored through a case study related to South-Eastern Sicilian UNESCO sites (in particular Syracuse). The analysis of this case study will point out the challenge of integrating different management and planning regimes - which mainly refer to a performative model - in a (still) very conformative planning sys- tem. The paper will show how supranational protection tools and models often lose their efficacy in relation to local planning systems. This article aims to investigate the relationship between sustainable development and planning in UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites. Its focus is the re- lationship between WHL Management Plans (MP) and other (local and regional) planning instruments and policies able to influence the promotion of sustainable and responsible development. This will be explored through the case study of the site Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica. The analysis of this case study will point out the challenge of integrating different management and planning re- gimes - which mainly refer to a performative model - in a (still) very conformative planning system. The paper will show how supranational policies often lose their efficacy in relation to regional and local planning systems, being in opposition to such systems. The selection of the Sicilian case study is particularly appropriate un