ABSTRACT
Canada’s rural communities often require creative approaches to assist in their transition from resource-based settlements to diversified, sustainable economies. Creating place-specific solutions compatible with these communities’ complex attributes of cultural heritage is directly linked to their sustainability. Rural communities are increasingly turning to tourism, leveraging their unique cultural heritage to support resilient economies through attracting new visitors - and by extension, new residents. This offers a new model for cultural heritage tourism in which local and regional placemaking efforts combine with population attraction and retention strategies, leading to co-placemaking between visitors and residents. Through case studies of Cochrane, Ontario, and Osoyoos, British Columbia, the role of tourism, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and cultural entrepreneurialism in the process of co-placemaking are examined, and the subsequent impacts of reinforcing cultural practices in rural transition.
