The SoPHIA Holistic Heritage Impact Assessment Model is a milestone of the SoPHIA project. In 2021 the draft model was tested in 12 case studies and the findings were summarised in D2.2 Case Studies Report; it was also discussed with the SoPHIA community of practice – researchers, practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders – during a collective reflection process. Indeed, in the recent past, there has been a policy emphasis on the need for in-depth reflections on the desired and expected impacts of cultural heritage interventions, but also on their non-causal effects, in relation to the growing acknowledgement of the role of cultural heritage in sustainable development: sustainability and resilience are included as key elements of the SoPHIA Model because they underpin the role that cultural heritage can play in today’s interconnected world.
The SoPHIA Model is intended as a contribution for an increased systematic and relevant, but also more targeted, use of an impact assessment model by the community of cultural heritage stakeholders: it is the first model to approach impact assessment from a holistic perspective with a format that can be adapted to each need.
The model adopts a three-axes approach that highlights the quality of interventions in cultural heritage and implements the link between high-quality interventions and their impact:
The different aspects of the three axes of the model should be considered as a reference.
The model is designed in a manner that allows for flexibility, and needs to be tailored considering contextual factors related both to the intervention and the assessment process.
When tailoring the assessment process the focus is placed on describing the environment and objectives of an intervention (context factors), as well as on transparently defining the objectives and resources of the assessment (assessment factors)
The Toolkit with further information and detailed steps will be available soon.
