Measuring urban heritage conservation: indicator, weights and instruments (part 2)

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to set out the weighting of the indicator of conservation (Isc) to assess the state of conservation of urban heritage sites and three key performance indicators (KPIs): significance, integrity and authenticity.Design/methodology/approachThe weighting process was developed using the Delphi technique with the participation of 34 international specialists from all regions of the world.FindingsThe Isc indicator is expressed as a function of three KPIs: significance, integrity and authenticity. All KPIs have the same relative importance in the Isc. The resulting values of the weights of the opinion of the stakeholders in the KPIs were in conformity with theory. Clearly the stakeholders can be divided into two groups of importance. The opinion of the local specialists, long‐standing residents and cultural reference groups were shown to be more important than the opinion of new residents and visitors.Practical implicationsThe indicator may be used for monitoring the state of conservation of the World Heritage Urban Sites.Social implicationsThe indicator allows a non‐biased evaluation of the conservation process of the World Heritage Sites.Originality/valueThe indicator of conservation presented in the paper is the first of its type.