Culture’s non-use values: towards a spatially informed measurement, understanding and aggregation of value(s)

Non-use values of culture and heritage are difficult to define, measure and aggregate. Whilst socio-cultural significance is recognised, it is often flattened to enable quantitative measurement which, in turn, often finds that more qualitative work needs to be done, with the cycle continuing ad infinitum. In this short working paper, we set out the complexities of and necessity for a more balanced interdisciplinary approach. We argue for a spatial approach that centres the site or asset and its communities beyond preconceived or positivist understandings of culture, emotion and wellbeing, alongside a more nuanced application of the different temporalities of use and non-use values and the porosity between the user and non-user population.