Publication details
Communication Within a UNESCO Heritage Community
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | Resident members of a community form the core of community communication (Hess, Waller, 2017; Waschková Císařová, 2017), but there are several additional types of actors within a small town with a UNESCO heritage site, including people connected to institutions, newcomers, visitors, and tourists. Can they all be equal in terms of communication within the community (Waschková Císařová et al., 2018)? The aim of the proposed presentation is to sum up the initial findings of a study that was focused on the (in)equality of community communication in a small town. The presentation is based on data from an interdisciplinary project taking place in the UNESCO heritage site Telč, Czech Republic (population 5,500) The aim of the project is (1) to formulate (partly transferable) strategies in the field of urban development and local communication, which will strengthen the building and maintenance of the quality of tangible and intangible public spaces, and will support the local people's relationship to their own city, which is burdened by extreme imbalances in the use of public spaces during and after the tourist season; and (2) to create tools and procedures that would help local municipalities to shape their city so that a living space with functioning local links will support community cohesion. Drawing on an qualitative case study (document analyses, interviews, observations), the presentation (1) focuses on the actors’ everyday lived experience with communication channels and local information within the locality; (2) defines who is (dis)empowered in the dissemination and receipt of local information; (3) shows how the media representation of the locality differs for the various actors; and (4) describes the local communication contact points among the community actors. The initial findings suggest that there are significant inequalities in disseminating and receiving community information among the communication actors. Almost non-existent communication among various actors complicates their coexistence in the small-town UNESCO heritage site. |
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