Comunicare un patrimonio: il Parco Geominerario Storico e Ambientale della Sardegna

The idea of developing a thesis on the Historical and Environmental Geominerary park of Sardinia arose following the completion of a 300-hour placement within the organisation itself, and the personal interest I held in developing a project to increase the value and development of Sardinia, which is in need of new initiatives in order to fully make use of what can be considered it’s ‘human heritage’. For years, Sardinia has industrially exploited natural resources which now seem to be the only way for the island to make it’s cultural mark within Italy and the wider world.
This work is composed of two sections: a theoretical introduction to the subject, and a more technical and critical part which contains a detailed analysis of the data collected, leading to a conclusion consisting of a general communication plan which would allow the insertion of the park into the international context of Unesco and Geoparks.
My intention is to critically analyse the activity of the park historically, culturally and environmentally. Theoretical definitions have allowed me to develop the communication plan within the context of a museum or eco-museum.
Analysis of the supply and demand curve for the market in which the park operates, and intends to operate, allowed me to define the steps that must be taken for the park to reach a satisfactory level of communication and increased value. Of fundamental importance was defining the general public’s level of satisfaction with the park through questionnaires and a press conference. This allowed me to evaluate to what extent and in what way the park was present in the minds of the local population, who could greatly benefit from a project of development and conversion of the minerary and archeological sites.
The importance of the impact on the media and the local population has been long overlooked. There are many places which can be visited across the eight areas of the park, which benefits from cultural and historical heritage sites that do not exist in any other part of Europe, but which cannot reach their maximum value and recognition without a clear plan of coordination and therefore communication. An effective plan would define the steps to be taken in order to create a unitary image of the park and therefore maximise efficiency.
A fundamental starting point for my communication project is the fact that Unesco recognises this site as having ‘international value’. In fact, it is within this international context of the Geoparks network that the park appears to be lacking in some aspects. The need to effectively communicate it’s particular heritage to the wider world means that the park consortium must organise it’s own coordination project to unite and include all the different sites that make up the park.
My aim was essentially to investigate the initiatives undertaken by the park in this communication sector and in particular to analyse the means of international communication used. This permitted me to develop, in the pre-project phase, a specific communication plan, to form a basis for further economic and fiscal analyses.
My assumption is that effective communication is fundamental and must form the basis for any future projects. Correct management and implementation of means of communication that have been and could be used, guarantees a high probability of growth and development. It is important to have clear aims and to identify possible means of communication that will form a basis to help meet those aims.
It is only in the last few years that the Geominerary park is looking to increase activity, and this gave me high levels of flexibility in theorising a possible communication project for use in the park, including defining roles that I feel would be useful to implement in order to best coordinate the diverse activities of the park.