Reconceptualising technological value in architectural heritage

This study explores how technological value is conceptualised in international doctrinal documents in response to a gap in evolving understandings of built heritage: despite technology’s growing relevance in conservation practice, its value remains conceptually fragmented, implicitly articulated, and inconsistently integrated across existing value frameworks. Drawing on 84 documents issued by leading institutional bodies engaged in cultural heritage policy and guidance between 1931 and 2024, the research employs a qualitative methodology grounded in thematic content analysis. Through an inductive coding process, five key thematic categories are identified to structure the discourse on technological value: Technological Authenticity and Integrity; Heritage as a Repository of Technological Knowledge; Layered Change and Technological Impact of Interventions; Symbolic and Cultural Significance of Technology; and Performance, Sustainability, and Adaptive Resilience. These themes demonstrate that technological value is a multidimensional and relational construct, intersecting both tangible and intangible aspects of heritage, and exhibiting substantive associations with historical, scientific, and cultural values through notions of continuity, embedded knowledge, and context-specific meaning. The findings further reveal differentiated levels of emphasis across these dimensions. By synthesising dispersed positions within international doctrinal documents, the study proposes a structured conceptual foundation for identifying and framing technological value, enhancing clarity and coherence, and contributing to technically responsive interpretations within heritage contexts.