With its celebrated World Heritage List, UNESCO steers the global heritage agenda through the definition and redefinition of what constitutes heritage and by offering the highest-level forum for heritage professionalism. While it is the national governments that nominate sites for inclusion in the World Heritage List, and the intergovernmental World Heritage Committee that makes the final decision on inclusion or non-inclusion, it is the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for cultural heritage that determines whether the necessary level of ‘outstanding universal value’ is met.

Focusing on the discourses of ICOMOS and their transmission to the local context, this book is the first in-depth historical analysis of the construction of heritage value in the context of cities illustrated through a case study of Old Rauma in Finland. The book contributes to the understanding of the discursive and constructed nature of World Heritage values as opposed to intrinsic values, critically scrutinizes the role of ICOMOS in making valuations concerning urban heritage, and sheds light on the interactions and tensions of universal and local (urban) perspectives in the practice of heritage valuation.

Valuing World Heritage Cities is the first in-depth historical analysis of the construction of heritage value in the context of cities in the transnational discourses of heritage. This unique and timely contribution will be of interest to scholars and students working in Heritage Studies, Cultural Geography, Urban Studies and Tourism.