Coriovallum Today. Heerlen’s Roman heritage as socioeconomic catalyst.

Abstract

The closure of the mining industry in the southeast of the Netherlands between 1967 and 1974 had caused big socioeconomic negative consequences in the Eastern Mine Region. Here, the regional economy was heavily dependent on the mining industry and social life that had formed around it, which more or less comprised the identity of the whole region. Heerlen was the social centre of this area and suffered excessively. Socioeconomic decline hit the town hard, with its all-time low in the 1990s, having the reputation of ‘drug city’. Recovery has started since the 2000s, though the town is still behind the national level on many aspects. In this thesis, the uses of Heerlen’s Roman heritage is discussed. Heerlen was an urban settlement in the Roman Period, when it was called Coriovallum. It was located on the cross point of two Roman highways, the Via Belgica and the Via Traiana. It has been known for long that Heerlen was connected well with other, even with larger Roman cities via these roads. Recent research has pointed out that due to this connectivity Coriovallum was more than a simple regional settlement. Especially the pottery craft and the probable large size of the ancient town indicate its importance. Therefore, the Roman heritage of Heerlen is rich. A discussion heritage management in general and the current policy in Heerlen has pointed out that heritage management should work towards a historic environment in which heritage is used as a catalyst to maximise the heritage potential. This means that the physical remains are used in a way to shape the social place and ultimately the cultural place as well. Ideally, tripartite collaborative heritage management between citizens, authorities and heritage potential is implemented. However, different relationships between agents in heritage management can be possible, depending on the goals heritage projects are ought to reach. Study of examples of forms of heritage management of Heerlen with analysis checklists show that the role of the local authorities is required to provide access to historic environments among the citizens of Heerlen. Nevertheless, social cohesion is reached in every case, to different degrees, and a wider spread of heritage knowledge is boosted. Moreover, citizens get a prominent active role in the most recent cases, thus Heerlen is steadily working towards a balanced tripartite heritage management. On the social side, Heerlen’s heritage management is contributing much to the gentrification of the town. The economic side cannot be determined yet based on this study. The investments in the cultural sector are supposed to contribute to an improvement of the (local) economy, though this can only be determined on a longer term.