Objective In recent decades, the field of cultural-heritage conservation has experienced a major paradigm shift, moving beyond a focus on the static protection of isolated tangible monuments toward a more comprehensive concern for the integrity, continuity, and dynamism of historic environments. Within this context, the concept of the “Historic Urban Landscape” (HUL) has emerged as a significant response to the complex challenges of urbanisation and globalisation. The HUL approach advocates integrating heritage conservation into the broader goals of social, cultural, environmental, and economic development, highlighting the interaction between people and place, and recognising that heritage is a living process rather than a fixed state. Since the adoption of the Vienna Memorandum (2005) and the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011), the HUL concept has evolved from theoretical discourse to a globally recognised methodology for managing urban heritage. This study aims to review the development of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) concept over the past fifteen years (2010−2025), assess its current research status and key challenges, and identify directions for future research in urban heritage management.
Methods The study draws upon a comprehensive synthesis of research on the HUL conducted over the past fifteen years. It systematically analyses the theoretical evolution of HUL and identifies the main research hotspots that have influenced the formation and development of this field. Building on the synthesis of previous findings, the study classifies existing scholarship into four key dimensions: 1) theoretical exploration and conceptual debates, 2) policy formulation and governance mechanisms, 3) identification and assessment methodologies, and 4) public participation and community engagement. Within each of these dimensions, the paper further distils the major issues, analytical focuses, and developmental trends that characterise different stages of research progress. Furthermore, through comparative analysis, it reveals how studies conducted under different contexts and institutional backgrounds highlight distinct focal points and employ varied methodological approaches. This comprehensive review provides an integrated understanding of how HUL research has evolved from conceptual introduction to systematic framework reconstruction.
Results The findings reveal that the theoretical framework of HUL is undergoing a transition from its initial phase of conceptual introduction to a more mature phase of mechanism reconstruction and practical institutionalisation. Research emphasis has gradually shifted from defining the core ideas of HUL to developing practical instruments and operational guidelines that support heritage management within complex urban systems. Early studies focused on clarifying HUL’s theoretical boundaries, its distinction from conventional conservation models, and its potential to bridge heritage and urban development. Later research placed greater emphasis on governance frameworks, policy integration, and management tools, such as value-mapping systems, vulnerability and risk assessment, and heritage impact assessment models. In recent years, the expansion of digital technologies—such as GIS-based mapping, remote sensing, and 3D visualisation—has significantly enriched HUL research, enabling more comprehensive and dynamic analysis of urban heritage. At the same time, studies have increasingly addressed the social dimension of HUL, investigating public awareness, stakeholder participation, and collaborative governance mechanisms. Despite these advancements, HUL implementation in practice still faces multiple challenges. In many cities, planning and conservation systems remain fragmented, making it difficult to integrate heritage values into broader urban-development agendas. Change management is often reactive rather than proactive, and the lack of clear criteria for identifying and assessing cultural significance limits the effectiveness of planning decisions. Moreover, participatory processes frequently remain symbolic, failing to achieve genuine community engagement or equitable representation of local voices. Interdisciplinary collaboration also poses difficulties, as heritage specialists, planners, environmental scientists, and policy makers often operate within separate institutional silos. These challenges highlight the persistent gap between theoretical innovation and on-the-ground application of HUL principles.
Conclusion Although the Historic Urban Landscape framework has become an important approach to achieving the coordinated development of urban growth and heritage conservation, its practical applications remain largely conceptual and policy-oriented. Most current practices interpret HUL principles within existing planning and conservation mechanisms rather than establishing new governance logics, and few achieve systemic integration across planning, management, and community dimensions. As a result, HUL often functions as a coordinating framework rather than a generative mechanism for urban-heritage transformation. Persistent challenges—including fragmented implementation, limited stakeholder participation, inadequate interdisciplinary collaboration, and weak responsiveness to digital innovation—continue to constrain its effectiveness. Addressing these issues requires multi-dimensional efforts: constructing context-specific evaluation frameworks that link cultural value cognition with spatial decision-making; embedding HUL principles into statutory, institutional, and digital governance systems to ensure operational continuity; and fostering cross-sectoral collaboration that enables shared responsibility and adaptive management among heritage professionals, planners, and local communities. The next phase of HUL evolution should aim to transform the framework from a conceptual guideline into a dynamic governance mechanism supported by digital technologies such as geospatial analytics, data-driven monitoring, and participatory platforms. This review provides a comprehensive reference for scholars and practitioners seeking to understand how the Historic Urban Landscape framework is reshaping the logic, structure, and governance of heritage-oriented urban development.
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