Researchers from the Heritage Science Laboratory Ljubljana have contributed a book chapter to the recently published volume Cultural Heritage Re-imagined: A Systemic Approach to Theory, Practice, and Management, edited by Matthias Ripp, Sushobhan Majumdar, and Claire Cave and published as part of the Heritage Studies (HEST) book series by Springer Nature.

The chapter, “Valuing Cultural Heritage Across Disciplines: A Critical Synthesis for Systemic and Sustainable Heritage Management,” was authored by Lana Nastja Anžur and Matija Strlič (Heritage Science Laboratory Ljubljana), Nina Ponikvar (School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana), and Krish Seetah (Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Oceans Department, Stanford University).

The publication addresses a growing challenge in cultural heritage research and practice: while cultural heritage is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to environmental, social, and economic sustainability, approaches to understanding and assessing its value remain fragmented across disciplines. The chapter examines how different disciplinary domains conceptualize cultural heritage value and evaluate heritage-related impacts, highlighting both their complementarities and their limitations.

To bridge these disciplinary divides, the authors develop a three-level analytical framework that brings diverse valuation approaches into a shared conceptual space. Rather than proposing a new theory of heritage value, the framework enables existing perspectives to be compared, aligned, and interpreted together. This approach supports a more integrated understanding of cultural heritage as a dynamic system of interactions, where heritage influences society and the environment while simultaneously being shaped by broader social, economic, and environmental processes.

Figure 1. Graphical representation of the three-level analytical framework of valuation approaches.

The chapter is available through Springer Nature:

Anžur, L. N., Ponikvar, N., Strlič, M., & Seetah, K. (2026). Valuing Cultural Heritage Across Disciplines: A Critical Synthesis for Systemic and Sustainable Heritage Management. In: Ripp, M., Majumdar, S., & Cave, C. (Eds.), Cultural Heritage Re-imagined: A Systemic Approach to Theory, Practice, and Management. Heritage Studies. Springer.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-23530-5_3