An innovative methodological and operational approach to developing Management Plans for UNESCO World Heritage Sites: a Geographic Information System for “Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century”

The model for developing Management Plans for UNESCO World Heritage Sites drawn up by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities in 2005 is no longer wholly adequate in terms of promoting heritage resources and their local contexts. The article considers the innovation developed in the IT/ICT field and provides theoretical and methodological considerations, based on which a new methodology for devising Management Plans could be developed. A Geographic Information System (GIS) for the knowledge and management of the site “Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century”, is proposed as an innovative, dynamic, interoperable model that can both support urban-scale projects to capture the economic value of cultural heritage and promote forms of indirect enjoyment of the site.