NITI Aayog to come up with a roadmap on making Built Heritage self-sustainable

In a move aimed at leveraging the potential of Built Heritage as a self-sustaining economic growth driver, NITI Aayog will soon come up with a strategy to make heritage sites self-sustainable by generating income and employment, while promoting community participation.

Built heritage refers to historic structures, monuments, sites and buildings that are preserved for their architectural, cultural, social, political, economic, or military historical significance.

The Aayog has invited expressions of interest from research organisations to undertake study to assess and reposition built heritage as a catalyst for economic growth by documenting and categorizing heritage assets and analyzing their socio-economic potential, in context of the conservation frameworks.


The objective is to study and evaluate successful, sustainable heritage models with community engagement through selected case studies.

Besides, the research is expected to also assess heritage policies and identify stakeholders for integrated planning across conservation, tourism, and infrastructure while setting vision and targets to take built heritage and experiential tourism forward as an economic profit centre.

“The study will also focus on developing an implementation framework and standard operating procedures for leveraging built heritage as a growth driver, along with recommending innovative financing models for its long-term sustainability,” it said, adding that the outcome of the study will include a vision, strategic targets, and an actionable implementation framework tailored to Indian cities.

Applicants will be required to review five representational sites, one each from the UNESCO World Heritage Site, ASI-protected monument, state-protected site, abandoned or unprotected site, and privately-owned heritage property.

The duration of study will be six months from date of award of study

The Aayog is of the view that since heritage and spiritual tourism contribute significantly to tourism in India, developing built heritage as an experience can provide an opportunity to boost the economy as well as preserve the built heritage of the country.

“Built heritage can act as a growth driver when looked beyond monuments and precincts, and our focus is on improving the cityscape rather than just the monument,” it said.

“Heritage structures and precincts act as an asset in attracting tourism and revenue to a city or a region,” it added.