Heritage and development. Approach to the concept of cultural heritage and its use in territorial development

By focusing our attention on the concept of cultural heritage and how it has been treated by social sciences, the articlef rstly discusses the way in which political practice and the social scientists participate in the transformation of a cultural element in cultural heritage, creating this category from an urban and enlightened vision of culture, which is also a hegemonic vision. Then we introduce an alternative construction of the cultural heritage that emerges by means of negotiation processes in which all sectors of the society are involved. Finally the article discusses how cultural heritage can be used to promote development through strategies that go beyond the simple transformation of heritage into a resource for the tourism industry.