Understanding the 5 different Heritage Values to Drive Sustainable Development

Heritage is a key element of understanding the values of tradition, regionality, and identity that relate to how humans connect with the past. Appreciator.io aims to preserve heritage by leveraging innovation, creativity, and technology to amplify the social and economic benefits of heritage and its preservation. With heritage, we can understand the development of common human practices, monuments, nature, and the social and economic impact it brings to our world.?

The act of preserving heritage is rooted in the notion that there is an underlying value that creates a better life for all whether it is socially or economically. This refers to benefits from things such as tourism, participation in traditional events, consumption of local gastronomy, art, and more. That is why it is important to understand the types of values heritage has to apply for the benefit of the economy and social identity of a region. So how can we leverage heritage to our benefit? Among many key values, there are 5 different heritage values we will focus on historic Value, spiritual value, aesthetic value, social value, and symbolic value.

Historic Value

The historical value is a guide to the past that records how human society has developed over a countless number of years. This helps us to identify traditions and events that explain why we express the way we do in the present. It not only reaffirms the sense of an evolving society but also provides good context on the way we should be structuring our society, especially in terms of policy and social issues.

Spiritual Value

This refers to a place or object that provides insights for explaining religious, sacred, and transcendental practices and experiences. Just as we place value in worshiping at churches, it is closely tied to the broader scope of cultural value. At the same time, spirituality does not only refer to religious values but also the connection to emotion, mindfulness, engagement, and experiences from a personal perspective.?

Aesthetic Value

The aesthetic value is the visual component that defines stylistic, environmental, and visual elements of heritage. It is not limited to artificial creations but can also refer to natural elements. This includes colors, shapes, patterns, textures, and more and also encompasses inherent natural features and processes such as erosion, growth, and a substantial change in the environment through natural or human means.?

Social Value

Social value denotes the significance of places that bring a sense of identity, belonging, and association through people, places, and shared social experiences. It is what defines a distinction in communal identity that is similar but different from those seen in historical or cultural value. These associations help promote local values and can also be represented in a form of local pride. It is the underlying motivation for communal practices that are present in intangible forms such as memory, oral history, and genealogy of a community.?

Symbolic Value

Symbolic value is the shared meaning and power of the chronological nature that is associated with heritage. They can be places or objects that complement people’s cultural and historic identity through meaning. It is often related to the awareness of and pride in cultural identity as well as a measure of importance and cultural attachment to heritage from a communal perspective.

How Heritage Value Creates Sustainability

With heritage values, it is more evident how to improve the capabilities of social and cultural assets to enhance sites, monuments, objects, and communities. By linking values with heritage, we are able to create economic and social value. The most obvious would be tourism and the development of cultural products. This could be through the use of cultural content and designs inspired by heritage sites and objects such as art, and architecture to create new creative businesses. While not strictly for means of commercialization, heritage stakeholders can leverage the marketing value of heritage to amplify its relevance and awareness to global tourists. Tourism catering to cultural heritage can provide new experiences to travelers as institutions can leverage the heritage values to be discovered in various ways. For example, tour paths can be established along important heritage sites and natural environments that allow for the development of local businesses and a greater possibility of creating catered products and services that support the communal heritage in the form of traditional events, clothing experiences, gastronomy, and more. ?

Cultural heritage preservation may also be driven by supporting education through old monuments repurposed as educational facilities or museums that can further enhance regional sustainability. Monuments no longer need to be abandoned or sitting as depreciating assets. Furthermore, local merchants can also partake in the preservation of traditional techniques such as handcrafting which lead to the development of skilled professionals in the heritage sector. In doing so, it protects the traditional methods from being forgotten while providing economic value to the locals and possibilities to further study such techniques under academic research.

All these factors bring social impact through the economic and social development of regions which enhance the quality of life for locals while building a sense of communal belonging that is distinctly related to that culture and heritage. With an understanding of the different types of heritage values and how they can generate social and economic value, we would like to emphasize that heritage should be leveraged through content, marketing initiatives, products, and services while building up an ecosystem that invests in the development and sustainability of heritage using innovation, creativity, and technology to stay relevant for future generations.

What is Appreciator.io?

Appreciator.io is an experiential platform that collaborates with art institutions, IPs, artists, influencers, and brands for heritage preservation. Appreciator.io conceptualizes and creates NFTs, digital art, immersive experiences, and limited edition collectibles, which are then curated through the lens of the new wave of collectors in contemporary culture. It connects and inspires the new generation of collectors, especially those from China, to explore, learn, trade, and appreciate culture within its own web 3.0 eco-system.

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