“Tangible and intangible heritage are sources of social cohesion, factors of diversity and drivers of creativity, innovation and urban regeneration – we must do more to harness this.” This was the message of Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, during the World Urban Forum in Napels in 2012. Her statement provides the basis of this research, if urban heritage is preserved and used correctly it can deliver social change. Urban heritage can be perceived in several ways but in general urban heritage can be perceived as real estate. This real estate serves, as mentioned above, a common good: the understanding of a shared history (Pereira Roders, 2007; Tarrafa Silva & Pereira Roders, 2012). Preserving these buildings for that goal is reached through a spatial programme or strategy. This research is therefore a symbiosis of heritage management and real estate management. Understanding the added value of heritage in city development will create the possibility to give certain weight to the preservation of these buildings. Knowing which weight a building carries for society, in terms of added value, provides the basis for the decision making process of preserving a building or not.Heritage however, does not only add value it costs capital as well. It is costly to preserve heritage due to the restrictions posed by governmental rules and regulations. Heritage is also difficult to preserve due to the mostly unwieldiness of the properties for modern businesses. Preserving only to preserve for the afterlife does therefore, not yield success. Knowingly investing in heritage that adds more value to society than it costs is more likely to yield success. The difficulty however is the definition of added value for society.The cost of heritage conservation is measurable through the financial investment needed to conserve the real estate, it is however far more difficult to know the added value of heritage. It is somewhat measurable how heritage adds value for specific stakeholders, for example the added value heritage has for its users. It is even more difficult to understand the added value of heritage for society. There are no tools available which pinpoint the added value of individual heritage. The Historic Urban Landscape approach provides only a general view on the added value of heritage. The aim of this research is to provide insight in the tension between the different values of heritage (both economic and otherwise) through the recognition of added values of heritage for society.