To respond effectively to the World Heritage Convention (1972), in 2002 the World Heritage Centre established that the inscription of new sites in the List must be conditional on the drafting of Management Plans. In 2004 it recommended the Management Plan also for the sites already inscribed in the List, thus providing the Local Authorities with a valid tool for making the Heritage known and for defending and monitoring it.

This statement was reinforced at national level through Law 77 of 20 February 2006 “Special measures for the protection and the fruition of Italian cultural, landscape and natural sites, inscribed on the ‘World Heritage List’, under the protection of UNESCO”. Through this law the Italian legal system establishes the obligatory drafting and adoption of the Management Plan by all the sites inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List and establishes special measures for their conservation and valorisation.

The Management Plan is:

• a flexible instrument designed to ensure and conserve the most important quality of a UNESCO site, its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV);
• a document which, through the involvement of various subjects and stakeholders, can analyse the forces of change that may emerge, not only at cultural level but also in the socio-economic context;
• a means of ensuring the effective protection of the nominated property so as to guarantee its transmission to future generations;
• an instrument that can foster projects for protection and development that are agreed and coordinated by the various subjects and entities operating within the territory, which contribute to safeguarding the site and favouring the optimisation of the resources and the rationalisation of the economic investments.

The Management Plan represents a useful tool not only for conservation and protection, but also for the enhancement of the entire cultural heritage as a whole. It ought, therefore, to be a dynamic, wide-range networking tool, encompassing within a holistic approach a variety of different issues, such as the management of the territory and tourism, the organisation of transport and commerce, and any other aspect of the cultural and social life of the city.

Following the newsletter of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali) of May 30, 2007, the Memorandum of Understanding of 2005 the Steering Committee of the Historic Centre of Florence was established.

Currently the members of the Steering Committee:

• Municipality of Florece: Administrative Coordination Area – UNESCO Office
• Tuscan Regional Authority: Culture and Research Directorate – UNESCO Office
• Ministery for Cultural Heritage and Activities: Secretary Generl – Service I – UNESCO Office
• Regional Secretary for Cultural Heritage and Landscape of Tuscany (branch office of the MiBAC)
• Superintendence Archeological fine arts and landscape for the metropolitan city of Florence and the provinces of Pistoia and Prato (branch office of the MiBAC)
• Tuscany Museum Complex
• Uffizi Gallery
• Accademia Gallery in Florence
• member of the enlarged Steering Committee: HeRe Lab (joint Laboratory between the UNESCO Office of the Municipality of Florence and the University of Florence) and MUS.E (inhouse providing of the Municipality of Florence).

The work related to the second Management Plan of the Historic Center of Florence started in February 2013:

• an increasingly flexible and holistic management tool that bring together the numerous territorial dimensions involved;
• presence of the Buffer Zone, approved in July 2015;
• intangible heritage value, linked to Florentine craftsmanship (“Retrospective of the Outstanding Universal Value” of the Historic Centre of Florence 2014);
• identification of the Vision and Mission;
• an increasingly strategic and operational tool, which identifies concrete actions to address the critical issues identified in the “Periodic Reporting”, compiled in February 2014;
• integrated approach through Technical Tables / Focus Group;
• participation process of the local community (“Il Tavolo delle Idee” and “La Maratona dell’Ascolto – Consultation Marathon”);
• a more dynamic and network tool, involving both public and private actors;
• Action Plan based on measurable actions / projects, through indicators and the World Heritage Strategic Objectives 5Cs;
• explanation of what is UNESCO and World Heritage.

The Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence, approved by the City Council on the 19th January 2016, with deliberation No.8.

In order to monitor the progress achieved in the implementation of the Action Plan, it was decided to perform a two-yearly monitoring exercise in the form of meetings with the actors (both public and private) of the projects selected within the Management Plan. The meetings, held from September to November 2017, saw the participation, not only of the promoters, but also of numerous other actors with central roles in the realisation of the projects and therefore in the strategic activities of the Action Plan. During the meetings, for each action, the managers of the strategic projects were able to indicate whether the project is still in progress or not and whether there is the intention and the will to keep the project active.

The Monitoring of the Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence was approved by the City Council on 12 July 2018 with Resolution No. 2018/G/00321.

Due to the obligatory drafting and adoption of the Management Plan by all the sites inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List and establishes special measures for their conservation and valorisation, the UNESCO Office of the Municipality of Florence drafte the first Management Plan of the 2006:

• the ultimate aim of maintaining the Outstanding Universal Value of the Historic Centre of Florence, World Heritage site;
• following the guidelines provided by the Advisory Committee for the Management Plans of the UNESCO sites;
• validity 2006-2008, with a view to consolidating the biennial monitoring activity and bringing into effect a new Management Plan with a longer validity timeframe;
• followed by the 2007 and 2008 monitoring activities;
• integrated approach and sharing of the Plan with the main stakeholders;
• charcterized by the document “Actions for the City” (Azioni per la Città), which identifies the main coordinates of the new plan related to the protection, conservation and enhancement of the site while raising awareness of its incorporation in the World Heritage Site list among the citizens and visitors.