Methodological Approach to Integrate GIS-Based Analysis into the Design of Cultural Itineraries in the Framework of an Integrated Plan for Territory

The historical concept of heritage, which mostly comprised physical architectural and archaeological evidences, has been extended to the surrounding landscape in the last decades. This tendency has been corroborated by a series of International Charters and the European Landscape Convention of 2000. Landscape, understood as the perceptible part of territory that supports the contingencies throughout history, is subject to protection, management and planning. However, some inherent aspects of territory have been disregarded because of the frantic enlargement of cities throughout the twentieth century at the expense of the rural areas. Territorial heritage, which is fundamental to cultural landscape formation, is currently considered a strategic resource able to guarantee self- sustaining development of peri-urban and rural zones. In many cases, urban investments and planning associated to the enlargement of the metropolitan areas have overlooked this fruitful territorial heritage, making cultural landscapes illegible. This is the case of the cultural landscapes in the buffer zones of the archaeological sites, which are part of a diffuse territorial heritage that requires to be assessed by means of some innovative approaches. Cultural itineraries are presented as a landscape architecture strategy for valorising territorial heritage. Well-targeted design of these itineraries can also contribute to restore the dynamics of cultural landscape formation and to regenerate peri-urban and rural areas by promoting its self-sustaining development. To that end, the conceptualisation and hypotheses posed by some authors of the Società dei Territorialisti/e are used as references. A work methodology to design cultural itineraries is suggested in line with the presumptions of an integrated plan for territory aimed to valorise the territorial heritage. This paper explores in which way a GIS-based analysis can be integrated into the design of a landscape architecture like the cultural itinerary.