ABSTRACT
Historic places facilitate a spectrum of human–environment interactions. There are qualities of the historic environment, like the walkability of the place and the social connections found through cultural traditions, which illustrate positive impacts of heritage conservation that contribute to human well-being. Concepts such as the sense of place and community identity describe metrics of what good conservation practice aims to achieve, but also of the positive human health outcomes at a social and psychological level that a historic place provides. In the value-based approach to heritage conservation, we rely on establishing a strong relationship between attributes like place identity and sense of community to reinforce people’s commitment to the practice of conservation. If we can add to our understanding of these values by expanding to include associations like health and well-being, we create a future of conservation practice that can encompass greater human–environment interactions experienced in Historic Urban Landscapes. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the associations between heritage environments and human well-being, construct a theoretical argument that reasons human well-being is a part of a heritage values system, and that if we recognize it as such, we can apply that well-being to conservation practice.
