TEHIC-Handbook_of_best_practices

6. Criteria for selecting best practices in heritage interpretation. 95 2. Community involvement Heritage interpretation plays a key role in the reception of visitors at heritage sites, as it is a tool for conveying the values of the site itself. However, a heritage interpretation project stands out as a best practice not only when it fulfils this mission: it also has to seek to be involved in improving the well-being of the local community. Very often, heritage preserva - tion is a source of conflict, and through participation, heritage in- terpretation can generate debate spaces in the search for consen- sus. Additionally, tourist pressure may create unease among the population in certain territories, which can lead to a very critical view of heritage projects, or even to heritage being seen as some- thing important only for tourists. For all these reasons, we have proposed this criterion in order to assess those cases where the opin- ions of the community have been considered in the planning of heritage interpretation services, or spaces have been cre- ated to enable the local people to actively participate in setting up or managing such services. The last level would be those cases where the design of the service also seeks the assistance and cultural and social enrichment of local population. This is why the de - tection of community involvement is regarded as something particularly important. This can occur at different degrees, ranging from co-creation to simple attendance by local people to the scheduled activities. Moreover, targeting a visiting public requires, in general, different means and some - times different messages than those that may be of interest to the local population, and the same resources are not the most appropriate for educational groups. This is why we point out that the suitability of the offer of heritage interpretation services for a diversity of audiences is another indicator in the search of community involvement. Finally, as another sign of quality, we also suggest the identification of the communi - ty with its heritage, which comes from the perception of such heritage as a generator of well-being and cultural, social, educational and/or economic development in the territo- ry. Such identification can be revealed if we look at the integration of the community in Community participation in the Centre’s audiovisual “Casa Valcárcel. Colección Histórica”. Las Cabezas de San Juan, Seville. Spain. Picture by Espiral Patrimonio.