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The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an ontological model consisting of terms and relationships between these terms, creating a conceptual information model for the Built Cultural Heritage (BCH) domain, more specifically for preventive conservation.

The On-To-Knowledge methodology was applied in the ontology development process. Terms related to preventive conservation were identified by means of a taxonomy which was used later to identify related existing ontologies. Three ontologies were identified and merged, i.e. Geneva City Geographic Markup Language (Geneva CityGML), Monument Damage ontology (Mondis) and CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC-CRM). Additional classes and properties were defined as to provide a complete semantic framework for management of BCH.

A BCH-ontology for preventive conservation was created. It consists of 143 classes from which 38 originate from the Mondis ontology, 38 from Geneva CityGML, 37 from CIDOC-CRM and 30 were newly created. The ontology was applied in a use case related to the New cathedral in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Advantages over other type of systems and for the BCH-domain were discussed based on this example.

The proposed ontology is in a testing stage through which a number of its aspects are being verified.

This ontological model is the first one to focus on the preventive conservation of BCH.

The purpose of this paper is to presents a conceptual framework for a value-based monitoring system that serves as the core element for heritage conservation planning of World Heritage Sites. It reports on the early stage of heritage management research within the PRECOM3OS framework, in collaboration with the University of Leuven in Belgium and the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador. A new management concept was developed throughout a five-year interdisciplinary and multi-actor growth process within an international setting.

The application of the preventive conservation approach to world heritage management places the concepts of authenticity and integrity at the core of the heritage monitoring system. Moreover, the monitoring system is converted into a decision support tool for intervention and maintenance planning, beyond the mere purpose of inventorying or generating alerts.

The regular update of information for condition, risks and value assessment strengths and support strategic heritage planning. The conceptual information system developed is based on an inventory system and updated through monitoring. Therefore, planners are supplied with a tool for alternative scenarios, potential prioritization of intervention, options for preventive conservation and multi-criteria support for strategic planning over time.

The monitoring system is not fully implemented in the World Heritage Site of Cuenca; however, a generic model is put forward, developed to generate a planning tool that can be applied for different heritage sites.

More specific, the integration of two concepts: the value assessment and monitoring from a preventive conservation perspective is considered an innovative contribution to the development of decision-making systems in the broader urban planning context of historic cities.