To respond effectively to the World Heritage Convention (1972), in 2002 the World Heritage Centre established that the inscription of new sites in the List must be conditional on the drafting of Management Plans. In 2004 it recommended the Management Plan also for the sites already inscribed in the List, thus providing the Local Authorities with a valid tool for making the Heritage known and for defending and monitoring it.

This statement was reinforced at national level through Law 77 of 20 February 2006 “Special measures for the protection and the fruition of Italian cultural, landscape and natural sites, inscribed on the ‘World Heritage List’, under the protection of UNESCO”. Through this law the Italian legal system establishes the obligatory drafting and adoption of the Management Plan by all the sites inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List and establishes special measures for their conservation and valorisation.

The Management Plan is:

• a flexible instrument designed to ensure and conserve the most important quality of a UNESCO site, its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV);
• a document which, through the involvement of various subjects and stakeholders, can analyse the forces of change that may emerge, not only at cultural level but also in the socio-economic context;
• a means of ensuring the effective protection of the nominated property so as to guarantee its transmission to future generations;
• an instrument that can foster projects for protection and development that are agreed and coordinated by the various subjects and entities operating within the territory, which contribute to safeguarding the site and favouring the optimisation of the resources and the rationalisation of the economic investments.

The Management Plan represents a useful tool not only for conservation and protection, but also for the enhancement of the entire cultural heritage as a whole. It ought, therefore, to be a dynamic, wide-range networking tool, encompassing within a holistic approach a variety of different issues, such as the management of the territory and tourism, the organisation of transport and commerce, and any other aspect of the cultural and social life of the city.

Therefore, in 2004 the Ministry of Culture decided to invest financial and human resources to speed up the definition of the Management Plans for the Italian sites included in the World Heritage List.

These provisions, together with the desire to preserve and enhance the World Heritage Site, led to the creation of a special structure within the Municipality of Florence in February 2005: the Office “Florence World Heritage and relations with UNESCO”. The Office has the task of drafting and monitoring the Management Plan for the Historic Centre of Florence.

Following the newsletter of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture (MiC) of May 30th, 2007, the Memorandum of Understanding of 2005 the Steering Committee of the Historic Centre of Florence was established. Currently the members of the Steering Committee are:

(1) Municipality of Florence, Department of Culture and Sports

(2)  Tuscan Region, Department of Culture and Research – UNESCO Office

(3) Regional Secretary for Cultural Heritage and Landscape of Tuscany (MiC)

In addition to the institutions mentioned above, the institutions that usually participate in the Steering Committee of the Historic Centre of Florence are:

(4) UNESCO Office – Service I – Ministry for Culture (MiC)

(5) Superintendence for Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan city of Florence and the provinces of Pistoia and Prato (MIC)

(6) Regional Direction for the Museums of Tuscany (MiC)

The Steering Committee has the task of updating and implementing the Management Plan; it is convened
in case of specific situations that concern the World Heritage site, and recognises the Municipality of Florence as the entity responsible for the site.

For this reason, the human and economic resources for the activities connected to the management of the World Heritage site “Historic Centre of Florence”, are derived in great measure from the Municipality of Florence with the financial support from some State projects (through Law 77/2006 of MIC) or from certain foundations and authorities.

In fact, for the development of projects and the updating of technical documents concerning the management of the World Heritage site, the “Florence World Heritage and Relations with UNESCO” Office of the Municipality of Florence relies on the support of:

HeRe Lab – Heritage Research: joint research laboratory of the "Florence World Heritage and Relations with UNESCO” Office of the Municipality of Florence and of the University of Florence, established in 2015 and aimed at the definition of plans, actions and projects for the sustainable development of the World Heritage site, with specific reference to the Management Plan.

MUS.E: an in-house association of the Municipality of Florence, which is in charge of the enhancement of the Florentine Civic Museums, and organises cultural projects, exhibitions, workshops and events (for example centennials) which foster the use and enjoyment of Art and Heritage.

The “Management and Sustainability Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence – World Heritage site” will be adopted by the end of 2021, expiration date of the previous Management Plan, approved in 2016. The docuement, also drafted in the context of the European project AtlaS.WH, is featured by the following elements:

• 5-year validity;
• It will include a graphic or infographic on the World Heritage site’s governance system; roles and responsibilities over the property, its protection and preservation at the national, regional and local levels;
• The Steering Committee’s involvement in the preparation of the Action Plan will be increased, especially in the selection phase of strategic projects to be included in the Action Plan;
• Constant updating on the status of the projects included in the Action Plan by virtue of periodic meetings and annual contact with key actors of the selected projects;
• Participation of citizens and stakeholders from public and private institutions and bodies from the preparatory phases of the Management Plan by means of surveys and online webinars
• Inclusion of the extension of the boundaries of the Core Zone (minor modification), so as to include San Miniato al Monte in to it;
• Deeper information and elaboration of the historical section of the Management Plan as well as the insertion of maps representing the phases of development and growth of the Historic Center of Florence;
• Insertion of the attributes and physical elements at the basis of the inclusion of the site into the World Heritage List and their georeferencing;
• Identification of a set of indicators, for each Macro Area of the Action Plan, related to the monitoring of the State of Conservation of the site;
• Action Plan characterized by projects and strategic actions and elaborated taking the following aspects at international and local level in consideration:

INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION

1. Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011);
2. Strategic Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015);
3. Actions identified within the Helsinki Action Plan for Europe (2015-2016);
4. Recommendations emerged from the UNESCO/ICOMOS Advisory Mission (2017);
5. Strategic objectives identified in the “Methodology for the development of Management Plans for Urban World Heritage Sites elaborated by the Interreg project AtlaS.WH (2019).

LOCAL DIMENSION

1. Threats identified during the compilation of the Periodic Report (see below N#7), and thereby the Macro Areas and Objectives of the previous Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence (2016);
2. Mayor’s Mandate Program (2019)
3. Operational Plan (2020)
4. Project “Rinasce Firenze” (2020) in response to the new dynamics and need after the outbreaking of the COVID-19 pandemic).

• Identification of operational modalities in order to receive notifications on new running projects and to monitor the progress of already selected ones.
• Synthesis of the strategic actions: the new Management Plan is not going to contain those projects listed in the previous Management Plan and its 2018 Monitoring document, which have reached a good level of maturity and consolidation and/or, on the contrary, have never been implemented;
• Each project in the Action Plan will correspond to a final recommendation by site managers at international level; 
• Increased attention to the issue of Disaster Risk Management;
• Basis for the future compilation of the third Cycle Periodic Report (2022-2024).

The new Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence, as well as the 2016 Management Plan, will be developed in three different stages: 

1. First phase: analysis of the historical context and cultural and socioeconomic connotations of the Historic Center of Florence; analysis of the attributes and physical elements that motivated the inscription of the site in the World Heritage List; analysis of the regulatory and planning frameworks; analysis of the main academic publications in this field at the international level; analysis of the projects contained within the 2016 Management Plan and monitored by the 2018 Monitoring of the Management Plan; identification of the Vision and the Mission pursued by the new Management Plan;
2. Second phase: involvement (through digital modalities, i.e. webinars) of key stakeholders for the identification and selection of strategic projects to be included in the Action Plan; local community participation process (through digital modalities, i.e. webinars and surveys) so as to increase the awareness of World Heritage sites and their value;
3. Third phase: elaboration of the Management Plan, selection and approval of the most meaningful strategic projects by the Steering Committee in a long, medium and short-term perspective and with a view to preserve the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage site.

The work related to the second Management Plan of the Historic Center of Florence started in February 2013:

• an increasingly flexible and holistic management tool that bring together the numerous territorial dimensions involved;
• presence of the Buffer Zone, approved in July 2015;
• intangible heritage value, linked to Florentine craftsmanship (“Retrospective of the Outstanding Universal Value” of the Historic Centre of Florence 2014);
• identification of the Vision and Mission;
• an increasingly strategic and operational tool, which identifies concrete actions to address the critical issues identified in the “Periodic Reporting”, compiled in February 2014;
• integrated approach through Technical Tables / Focus Group;
• participation process of the local community (“Il Tavolo delle Idee” and “La Maratona dell’Ascolto – Consultation Marathon”);
• a more dynamic and network tool, involving both public and private actors;
• Action Plan based on measurable actions / projects, through indicators and the World Heritage Strategic Objectives 5Cs;
• explanation of what is UNESCO and World Heritage.

The Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence, approved by the City Council on the 19th January 2016, with deliberation No.8.

In order to monitor the progress achieved in the implementation of the Action Plan, it was decided to perform a two-yearly monitoring exercise in the form of meetings with the actors (both public and private) of the projects selected within the Management Plan. The meetings, held from September to November 2017, saw the participation, not only of the promoters, but also of numerous other actors with central roles in the realisation of the projects and therefore in the strategic activities of the Action Plan. During the meetings, for each action, the managers of the strategic projects were able to indicate whether the project is still in progress or not and whether there is the intention and the will to keep the project active.

The Monitoring of the Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence was approved by the City Council on 12 July 2018 with Resolution No. 2018/G/00321.

In 2007, following the circular of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities of 30 May 2007, the Steering Committee of the Historic Centre of Florence was established, members of which are currently:

1. The Municipality of Florence – Culture and Sport Department
2. Tuscan Regional Authority, Culture and Research Department
3. Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) – UNESCO Office
4. Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Florence (MiBACT)
5. Tuscan Regional Secretariat of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT)
6. Regional Directorate for Tuscan Museums (MiBACT)

The duty of the Steering Committee, which acknowledges the Municipality of Florence as the subject responsible for the site, is to monitor the updating and implementation of the Management Plan.

Due to the obligatory drafting and adoption of the Management Plan by all the sites inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List and establishes special measures for their conservation and valorisation, the UNESCO Office of the Municipality of Florence drafte the first Management Plan of the 2006:

• the ultimate aim of maintaining the Outstanding Universal Value of the Historic Centre of Florence, World Heritage site;
• following the guidelines provided by the Advisory Committee for the Management Plans of the UNESCO sites;
• validity 2006-2008, with a view to consolidating the biennial monitoring activity and bringing into effect a new Management Plan with a longer validity timeframe;
• followed by the 2007 and 2008 monitoring activities;
• integrated approach and sharing of the Plan with the main stakeholders;
• charcterized by the document “Actions for the City” (Azioni per la Città), which identifies the main coordinates of the new plan related to the protection, conservation and enhancement of the site while raising awareness of its incorporation in the World Heritage Site list among the citizens and visitors.