Resignifying heritage for sustainability: the lacustrine heritopolis of the Purépecha Lake region (Michoacán, Mexico)

Abstract This article introduces the lacustrine heritopolis as a territorial–relational model to interpret heritage governance in rural lacustrine regions, moving beyond site-based and tourism-centred frameworks. Drawing on a qualitative approach combining historical analysis, document analysis, and digital ethnography, it examines how community-driven heritage practices contribute to cultural sustainability in indigenous contexts. Heritage is conceptualised not as a static asset or branding resource but as a regional system sustained through everyday practices, community governance, and translocal networks linking rural territories and the Purépecha diaspora. The lacustrine heritopolis is proposed as an analytical model to capture the coexistence and interaction of institutional heritage regimes and living heritage systems within the same territory. The findings reveal asymmetrical relations between tourism-oriented heritage policies and community-based governance infrastructures that sustain cultural continuity and social cohesion. An interpretative reading of SDG 11 and SDG 16 shows that cultural sustainability emerges from relational and community-based governance rather than from formal recognition alone.