71 Local governments have a duty to respond to their citizens’ needs and demands, assessing priorities for the greater good. With scarcer public resources and a higher demand for public services, local and regional administrations need to reinvent themselves and the way they work with local people and stakeholders. Many citizens wish to act rather than suffer from global and national dynamics impacting their territories. On their side, municipalities are increasingly aware of the importance of placing citizens as actors rather than users of their territory, in order to help the administration set local priorities and develop policies that would be the most beneficial for the inhabitants. Over the years, this has translated into initiatives involving citizens in the development and management of public policies or approaches seeking to engage in dialogue with stakeholders who are part of the distinctive identity of a territory. Citizens have been encouraged to take on a wider range of responsibilities to ensure that local services continue to be delivered and improved effectively in the future. These new models of governance have found their way into cultural policies and the management of local cultural heritage too: culture and cultural heritage have often been at the forefront of citizens participation and engagement, as artistic intervention is a good trigger to have citizens interested and willing to shape their environment in a co-designed manner. Indeed, cultural heritage and cultural environments, whatever their size, are an essential resource to build identity and a sense of belonging, improving social cohesion, pride and integration. Inhabitants want to feel at home in their city and be part of a distinctive community with an identity and are therefore keener to engage in the protection, preservation and enhancement of what they consider their heritage. Investing in culture and local cultural heritage can also create opportunities to engage and empower citizens through a strong participatory approach. And finally, culture and cultural heritage have often been used as tools to test and renew local governance models into something more flexible, dialogue-based and co-designed, be it with local stakeholders, associations and organisations, and even inside municipalities themselves! Cultural heritage: an opportunity to rethink governance and empower communities Exploring solutions in European cities and regions Exploring solutions in European cities and regions Vantaa Finland A cultural environment programme created with local people Tampere Finland Adopt a monument: inclusive cultural heritage for and with people Kortrijk Belgium Participation and co-creation through cultural heritage Rotterdam The Netherlands Crowd sourced local archives for collective memories