The resurge of the ‘societal function of cultural heritage’. An introduction.

The contribution is the introduction to a special issue on "The societal function of cultural heritage". It reviews the current debate on the relationship between culture, economy and society, outlining a set of heritage-driven trajectories for economic development ('back to the city', 'back to dientity', 'back to conversation', 'back to the beggining of the innovation process', 'back to the human factor', ' back to the community'). The paper also introduces the articles of the special issue.'