Iranian Sustainable Building Scientific Association International Journal of Urban Management and Energy Sustainability 2538-1628 7 1 2026 05 01 Analyzing the Components Affecting the Valuation of Architectural Heritage: A Comparative Study of Conservation Models in Europe and Beyond 210 222 737389 10.22034/ijumes.2026.2092682.1378 EN Hoda Yazdanparast Ph.D. Student, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 0009-0001-2134-0747 Hojjatollah Abdiardekani Assistant Professor, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 0000-0002-2016-0023 Mohammad Aliabadi Assistant Professor, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 0000-0002-0430-3602 Journal Article 2026 05 27 Valuation lies at the foundation of the cultural-heritage conservation system: it guides listing, sets intervention priorities, and shapes policy. Yet the field lacks an integrated conceptual framework, and national and international approaches classify and interpret value in heterogeneous, often incomparable ways. This study re-examines the principal global models of architectural-heritage valuation and derives a shared conceptual structure that makes them comparable. The research adopts a qualitative comparative documentary design. A purposively selected corpus of international charters, national heritage laws and guidelines, agency reports, and peer-reviewed literature was subjected to qualitative content analysis using a coding frame derived from established value typologies and refined inductively. Eight European conservation systems were analyzed in depth and compared with a wider set of eleven international systems. Despite terminological and structural differences, valuation systems converge on four interdependent value dimensionshistorical- cultural, architectural-aesthetic, social-identity, and economic–functional. Crossnational divergence is not explained by these dimensions themselves but by three crosscutting mediating structures: the prevailing authenticity regime, the governance structure, and the authorized heritage discourse. These are consolidated into an integrative framework in which the four dimensions are weighted and interpreted through the three mediators to produce heritage significance. The framework offers a comparative lens that explains why similar value categories yield divergent conservation outcomes across nations, and provides a basis for developing more coherent, transparent evaluation models. https://www.ijumes.com/article_737389_4988154386f695addac68b5a07d3d24f.pdf