Three years ago, the GCI undertook its Values and Economics Project to provide tools and methods to conservators and allied professionals for assessing values—cultural and economic—and for applying the results of such assessments to guide sustainable conservation and management solutions.

In February 2001, a two-day meeting was held at the Getty Center to discuss the next phase of the project. This phase involves compiling and examining past experiences and existing approaches in conservation planning through the development of analytical case histories of heritage planning. These case studies would complement the more theoretical research that has been done to date, providing professionals with a set of references for the assessment of values in their work.

At the February meeting, representatives of the Australian Heritage Commission, English Heritage, Parks Canada, the U.S. National Park Service, and the GCI reviewed their respective approaches to heritage planning and identified ways in which their experiences might be analyzed and disseminated. The specific aims of the meeting were to discuss the potential for institutional collaboration, to identify possible projects as case study subjects, to suggest additional working group members, and to set out a preliminary framework for the development of the work.

It is anticipated that a working group of organization representatives will be established to identify cases, finalize the framework for their development, and exchange information as cases develop. The direct outcome of this effort will be publication of a series of cases analyzing how values were assessed, how the significance of a site was established, and the influence of the significance on conservation and management policies and plan implementation.