This study examines whether the revitalization of cultural heritage sites is associated with observable changes in public cultural activity, institutional openness, and sociocultural diversification. The topic is relevant because heritage-led regeneration is increasingly expected to produce social as well as spatial benefits, yet comparative empirical evidence on these outcomes remains limited. The study analyzes 26 revitalized heritage sites located in 12 urban agglomerations in Ukraine. Using aggregated public reporting, the authors construct exploratory normalized indices for cultural intensity, symbolic load, institutional openness, and sociocultural diversification, and relate them to a composite indicator of revitalization scale. The analytical strategy combines descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and a supplementary Mann–Whitney U comparison between sites with lower and higher institutional openness. The results indicate moderate positive associations between revitalization scale and cultural intensity (r = 0.46; p = 0.018) as well as sociocultural diversification (r = 0.41; p = 0.031), whereas the relationships with institutional openness (r = 0.22; p = 0.287) and symbolic load (\(\rho\) = 0.19; p = 0.356) are not statistically significant. Sites with higher institutional openness also show significantly higher cultural intensity and diversification. The findings should be interpreted as exploratory rather than causal, but they suggest that the organizational model of a revitalized site may matter as much as project scale for shaping sociocultural outcomes.
This study examines whether the revitalization of cultural heritage sites is associated with observable changes in public cultural activity, institutional openness, and sociocultural diversification. The topic is relevant because heritage-led regeneration is increasingly expected to produce social as well as spatial benefits, yet comparative empirical evidence on these outcomes remains limited. The study analyzes 26 revitalized heritage sites located in 12 urban agglomerations in Ukraine. Using aggregated public reporting, the authors construct exploratory normalized indices for cultural intensity, symbolic load, institutional openness, and sociocultural diversification, and relate them to a composite indicator of revitalization scale. The analytical strategy combines descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and a supplementary Mann–Whitney U comparison between sites with lower and higher institutional openness. The results indicate moderate positive associations between revitalization scale and cultural intensity (r = 0.46; p = 0.018) as well as sociocultural diversification (r = 0.41; p = 0.031), whereas the relationships with institutional openness (r = 0.22; p = 0.287) and symbolic load (\(\rho\) = 0.19; p = 0.356) are not statistically significant. Sites with higher institutional openness also show significantly higher cultural intensity and diversification. The findings should be interpreted as exploratory rather than causal, but they suggest that the organizational model of a revitalized site may matter as much as project scale for shaping sociocultural outcomes.
