Capturing experts’ knowledge in heritage planning enhanced by AI: A case study of windcatchers in Yazd, Iran

Experts have always played an important role in heritage planning, practice, and theory. There is a wealth of literature published every year regarding heritage and its cultural significance. Experts also contribute to heritage planning and developing policy documents. Still, literature is rarely used as a source of primary research to...

Values and interventions: dynamic relationships in international doctrines

Purpose: Even if there is a wealth of research highlighting the key role of values and cultural significance for heritage management and, defining specific interventions on built heritage, seldom the relation to their leading values and values hierarchy have been researched. How do values and interventions relate? What values trigger most and...

Web of attributes: analysing residents’ appreciation of a Dutch neighbourhood from a new heritage perspective

In the last century, the concept of what can be heritage has expanded in definition, opening to everyday architecture and living environments. More recently, the group of stakeholders to be involved in heritage assessment and management has slowly grown, with authorities acknowledging that heritage significance lies in the representation and...

Screening the stones of Venice: Mapping social perceptions of cultural significance through graph-based semi-supervised classification

Mapping cultural significance of heritage properties in urban environment from the perspective of the public has become an increasingly relevant process, as highlighted by the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL). With the ubiquitous use of social media and the prosperous developments in machine and deep learning,...

Public participation and consensus-building in urban planning from the lens of heritage planning: A systematic literature review

Public participation has been growing in both theory and practice of urban planning, including heritage planning. The reasoning is to facilitate the involvement of a broader group of stakeholders, beyond experts. More specifically, for heritage planning, participation could enable consensus-building on defining the significance of heritage,...

Value-based redesign in gamified learning environments

Architectural redesign risks damaging or destroying built heritage, especially when designers are unaware of its cultural significance. This needs to be prevented, as built heritage is a human right, as coined by the 2005 Faro Convention. As a result, architects are now encouraged to conduct values-based redesigns with a broader range of...

“What is OUV” revisited: A computational interpretation on the statements of outstanding universal value

The Statements of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) concerns the core justification for nominating and inscribing cultural and natural heritage properties on the UNESCO World Heritage List, ever since 2007. Ten criteria are specified and measured independently for the selection process. The 2008 ICOMOS Report “What is OUV” has been a successful...

WHOSe Heritage: Classification of UNESCO World Heritage Statements of "outstanding Universal Value" with Soft Labels

The UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) includes the exceptionally valuable cultural and natural heritage to be preserved for mankind. Evaluating and justifying the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is essential for each site inscribed in the WHL, and yet a complex task, even for experts, since the selection criteria of OUV are not mutually...