An Interdisciplinary Approach for the Valorisation of Active Hydroelectric Heritage: Application of a Conjoint Analysis Methodology to the Sila Scheme in Calabria (Italy)

Historical hydroelectric systems occupy a still marginal position within heritage valorisation practices, a position made more precarious by their status as active infrastructures. As a result, their intrinsic cultural, historical, and social values are rarely expressed or recognised. The present research proposes an interdisciplinary approach which supports complex valorisation strategies for the difficult task of valorising active hydroelectric heritage. Drawing on Complex Social Value theory, the study employs a Choice Experiment to examine how residents and visitors rank alternative valorisation scenarios linking hydroelectric infrastructures with other local landscape and cultural assets through sustainable tourism itineraries. The analysis estimates the relative importance of four non-monetary attributes—the form of heritage valorisation, itinerary length, integration with other cultural and natural resources, and mobility mode—and the direction of preferences across their levels. Integration emerges as the dominant attribute for both groups; both groups also prefer shorter itineraries, and preferences concerning mobility mode greatly differentiates residents from visitors. The application of this method—which is still not widely adopted in the field of cultural heritage—aims to capture the relative importance of a series of attributes of the itineraries, while also providing insights into the distribution of preferences expressed by respondents in relation to the different valorisation scenarios.