Community‑Based Learning as a Mechanism to Enhance Living and People‑Centred Approaches to Cultural Heritage Management

Nicholas Roberts

Community‑Based Learning (CBL) is an educational pedagogy that aims to integrate academic learning objectives and higher education institutions with meaningful engagement in community contexts. Here, students, educators, and community partners co‑design, co‑implement, and co‑evaluate learning activities to address locally defined needs. CBL emphasises reciprocity, mutual benefit, and knowledge co‑production, valuing community knowledge alongside academic expertise. The principles of CBL can be aligned to UNESCO, ICCROM, IUCN, and ICOMOS cultural and natural heritage management frameworks, can contribute to achieving key Sustainable Development Goals, and have potential to decolonise heritage management practice. Global frameworks can be mapped into local contexts rather than imposed upon them, focusing on community‑defined success and embedding long‑term sustainability, supported through accredited education pathways, local capacity development, and enduring community–institution partnerships. This paper will provide an overview of CBL, illustrate how it can be applied in community‑based cultural heritage management contexts, and demonstrate the benefits and challenges of its application in practice. The paper will also outline a framework for implementation of CBL within the Asia‑Pacific Region, providing examples where alignment to UNESCO’s rights‑based, community‑centred, and nature‑based approaches to heritage management can strengthen and enable local capacity and capability, cultural continuity, and sustainable heritage management practice.