The cultural heritage conservation field is undergoing fundamental transformation. We are moving beyond the traditional goal of static preservation to actively engage with major forces like rapid urban development, global crises, and mandatory modernization.

This Special Issue focuses on a critical global challenge: the need for strategic intervention in vulnerable historical sites and urban landscapes. Those areas are facing significant and complex threats. Our central argument is that heritage sites impacted by long-term neglect, the trauma of conflict, or the devastation of catastrophic disaster must be viewed not as liabilities, but as essential opportunities for urban renewal.

We explore resilient regeneration, which uses adaptive reuse to give historical structures smart, sustainable new functions. As the primary engine for city-wide recovery and revitalization.

This collection integrates the technical work of architectural rehabilitation with the essential social and methodological standards of the 21st century:

  • Inclusivity and Equity: The requirement to achieve universal accessibility and inclusive design in all patrimonial spaces, ensuring that heritage is functionally available to all citizens, regardless of physical ability.
  • Comprehensive Value: The methodological necessity of documenting and valuing the full intangible cultural capital embedded in the wider historical landscape, recognizing that memory resides across the entire built environment, not just in major monuments.

By synthesizing these diverse approaches, this issue provides actionable, integrated strategies to ensure that our most endangered global heritage contributes directly to a successful and resilient economic, social, and cultural future.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21625/archive-sr.v9i4
Published: 2025-10-31

Research Papers