Beyond stone and timber: the connotative meaning of built heritage, its associations with personal values and the mediating role of time orientations

Vollständiger Abstract

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Although people associate values with their experiences of heritage places, these are often overlooked in the preservation and reuse of historic buildings and sites. Little is known about how meanings are attributed to built heritage and how they relate to broader psychological constructs. This study explored connotative meaning using a semantic differential scale developed for built heritage, identifying three dimensions—evaluation, human connectedness, and condition—and investigated their relationships with personal values (Schwartz's Value Portrait Questionnaire) and time orientations (Zimbardo's Time Perspective Inventory). Path analysis revealed that self-transcendence and openness to change values are directly and positively associated with all the identified connotative meaning dimensions of built heritage. In contrast, self-enhancement values are directly negatively associated with all meaning dimensions. Additionally, past-positive time orientation totally mediates the positive link between conservation values and the evaluation dimension, while future time orientation totally mediates the positive relationship between conservation values and the condition dimension. Age is positively associated with all built heritage meaning dimensions. The findings bring us closer to understanding the relationship between heritage meanings, value systems, and time perspectives, informing sustainable heritage management and its role in enhancing the quality of life.