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This study validated the theoretical keypoints obtained from a previously published scoping literature review within the context of three Norwegian World Heritage sites: Røros, Rjukan, and Notodden. The cross-sectional table of the urban heritage facility management (UHFM) framework, which is based on interviews and correspondence, demonstrates the connection between the tasks of the six clusters of technical departments responsible for the provision of urban-scale support services and the modified critical steps of the Historic Urban Landscape approach, in which an additional step for “monitoring and evaluation” was included. UHFM operates at the intersection of heritage preservation, urban-scale facility management, and stakeholder coordination, which requires a careful balance between urban heritage conservation and sustainable urban management practices, thus enabling the preservation of World Heritage status that, among others, fosters sustainable tourism. The three case studies highlighted the significance of UHFM in preserving heritage value, authenticity, visual quality, and significance. Besides providing comprehensive support services that extend beyond the daily tasks of conservators and World Heritage managers, UHFM also allows feedback mechanisms for continuous improvement. This study highlighted the complex relationship between the provision of urban-scale support services and the preservation of Outstanding Universal Value as the core business of World Heritage sites.

Urban architectural heritage and its social manifestations are immersed in dynamics beyond their origin and conservation vision. Contemporary society reinterprets, reconfigures and resignifies it according to its own logics of empowerment. In this context, this article addresses the case of a bridge in the Historic Center of Cuenca (Ecuador) known by the names of Mariano Moreno Bridge, La Escalinata Bridge or Vivas Nos Queremos Bridge. It describes its patrimonial situation in terms of its values and its relationship with gender. Because of its social implications, this study is divided into two parts: a bibliographic analysis of the historical evolution of the monument, followed by a discussion of its heritage status, and the presentation of the design, validation and application of a qualitative tool to determine the values associated with the property. This tool is used in a focus group of actors to analyze the feminist activism developed on the bridge between 2020 and 2022. This research shows how cultural heritage can be known, valued and used from an inclusive perspective and how public space can be subject to processes of resignification. This bridge became a non-place, a forgotten and a meaningless site. However, due to the struggle for the vindication of women’s rights and freedom of expression, it has taken on a new meaning, becoming an integral part of the contemporary collective imaginary, regardless of its uncertain nomenclature.

Characterizing geological heritage sites (geosites) available in Russia remains an urgent task. The present study focuses on two geosites from the vicinity of Kazan—a large city on the Volga River. They are attributed to the standardized geoheritage types and scored by means of several criteria. It is found out that the Pechischi geosite represents nine geoheritage types, from which the stratigraphical type (stratotype section of the Upper Kazanian regional unit of the Guadalupian) and the geohistorical type (history of the Permian System studies) are the most important. This geosite reaches 675 out of 750 maximum possible scores, and it is ranked globally. The Cheremushki geosite represents six geoheritage types, from which the stratigraphical type (reference section of the Urzhumian regional unit of the Guadalupian) and the paleontological type (locality of diverse fossils, including tetrapods) are the most important. This geosite reaches a score of 250 and is ranked nationally. The undertaken study allows for recommending several actions for the effective conservation and exploitation of these geosites. The innovative interpretation is that the presence of geosites at the urban periphery makes its general (not only geological) heritage value comparable to that of the city’s center.

The methodological approach of the study proposes an innovative yet adaptive way to define and preserve heritage sites and their elements. In the case study, the proposed methodology guides the design/planning research of heritage sites by linking the perceptual behaviour with the information of the built environment. Visibility is the tool to measure the level of exposure of specific urban elements from a particular perspective. While isovist analyses define visibility in the built environment, fields of view from the periphery of heritage sites are applied to calculate visible or invisible areas by the observer. The purpose of the current study is the evaluation of the identification of the elements to be protected, by modelling both the heritage environment and the heritage elements according to the visibility criteria. For this purpose, I illustrate my approach by using visibility analyses and Space syntax analysis in the case of the Sulukule neighbourhood, the leading renewal project, in Istanbul. This area used to have notably cultural–historical assets–historic land walls, the lifestyle of Roma people—but now the renovation works carried out in the Sulukule case study site have affected the identity of the “visible” and “known” space of the historic quarter.

Since the 1960s, post-war modernist heritage has been largely criticised and victimised by the public opinion because of its material failures and elitist social projects. Despite these critiques, post-war modernist heritage is being reassessed, revalued and in some places successfully rehabilitated. There is a growing recognition that most of the critiques have often been the result of subjective and biased value and taste judgments or incomplete assessments that neither considered the urban design nor the users’ experiences. This paper aims to contribute to these reassessments of post-war modernist urban heritage legacies. To do so, it places the user’s social experiences and uses, and the urban design at the centre of the analysis, by using a combination of ethnographic methods and urban design analysis and focusing on the public spaces of Southbank Centre in London, the UK’s largest and most iconic and contested post-war modernist ensemble with a long history of conservation and regeneration projects. Taken together, the findings demonstrate the importance of including the users’ social experiences and uses in the conservation and regeneration agendas if we want to achieve more objective and inclusive assessments.

Current works have focused on the role of urban heritage to sustainable development in postwar cities and have highlighted the significance of participatory and inclusive approaches that involve citizens and key stakeholders in the conservation and regeneration of heritage areas. However, this task is rather complex and challenging, especially in areas inhabited by multiple ethnic groups. Skills in negotiation and building trust are as important as skills in restoration and conservation of the physical fabric. However, the current literature lacks in-depth understandings of how negotiations in these contexts work and what we can learn from the past. The aim of this paper is to explore this issue by using a case study analysis, in particular, that of Kosovo. This paper looks at how the process developed during the implementation period of Annex V of the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement (CSP) related to cultural heritage preservation. We analyze the sociocultural and political dynamics on the ground by focusing on Article 4 that deals with protective zones. With a critical examination of the approaches taken by stakeholders, including the public discourse and the example of the historic centre of Prizren, we suggest rethinking the implementation of Annex V as a sustainable option, rather than looking at other (beyond Annex V) alternatives that could potentially undermine the inter-community rebuilding efforts, and instead of creating the basis for sustainable cultural heritage preservation and reconciliation would eventually contribute to escalation and deepening of the conflict.