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Abstract: This paper aims to provide a conceptual analysis of cultural ecosystem services and how they are linked to the concepts of landscape, heritage and identity. It discusses how these cultural ecosystem services can be assessed and integrated into spatial and physical planning. The paper presents two case studies to shed light on the assessment process. A case study from Sweden combines an analysis of ecosystem services with methods for documenting cultural heritage values in landscapes. A second case study from the Arafura–Timor Seas combines an analysis of cultural ecosystem services with methods for assessment of priority environmental concerns at the seascape scale. We demonstrate that the methods from cultural heritage conservation provide tools for the analysis of historical values as well as historical drivers of change in landscapes that can add time-depth to more spatially focused ecosystem assessments. We propose that methods for valuation of cultural heritage and identity in landscapes are integrated into assessments of ecosystem services to inform policy making and physical and spatial planning for sustainable management of ecosystems and landscapes. This could also provide an approach for bringing about integrated implementation of conventions and instruments from the environmental and cultural heritage fields, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article offers the authors' insights on the doctorate (Ph.D.) course on the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in heritage processes. The authors state that the course, which is organised as a session during the Inaugural Conference for the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, was open for doctoral students of heritage studies. They consider the course as a promising platform for communication within the field of heritage studies since it strengthen connections among students.