Advancing sustainability monitoring for cultural routes: a governance-oriented framework for Ibero-America

Cultural Routes (CR) are increasingly recognised as effective models for transnational cultural and tourism management, particularly for rural and peripheral territories. By connecting natural and cultural heritage across borders, CR contribute to local development, territorial identity, and interregional cooperation. However, despite their growing policy relevance, most CR lack systematic sustainability monitoring practices, and research addressing impact measurement along routes remains limited. This gap is largely due to the absence of tailored monitoring tools, weak institutional coordination, limited resources, and the complexity of assessing impacts across multiple spatial scales. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a governance-oriented sustainability monitoring framework that is conceptually developed through engagement with existing empirical and policy-oriented initiatives. The framework is developed in relation to the Ibero-American Programme on Cultural Routes and Itineraries promoted by the Organisation of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture. Rather than treating monitoring as a purely technical exercise, the proposed approach conceptualises participatory sustainability monitoring as a governance mechanism that fosters stakeholder collaboration, social learning, and collective reflection on development pathways. By advancing a structured yet flexible monitoring framework, the paper contributes to the development of more robust analytical tools for assessing the multi-dimensional impacts of transnational CR, supporting route managers and providing policymakers with evidence-informed insights for long-term territorial development and interregional cooperation.