After decades of research and debate in the field that today is known as heritage studies, it has become clear that cultural heritage is best understood as a set of social practices and processes, valued in specific circumstances for their implications and outcomes. In other words, the discussion has come a long way from earlier ways of understanding cul- tural heritage in terms of monuments or traditions that have survived from the past and carry intrinsic values that ought to be preserved as such for the benefit of future generations. As a result, the most important question in studying cultural heritage is now not what it is, but what it does. In cultural heritage management and preservation – the sector in which many students graduating in our field find employment – we no longer consider cultural heritage in terms of what it was, but rather of what it could become. Consequently, the focus of those who understand and develop cultural heritage has shifted somewhat, from highlighting issues of conservation to highlighting issues of change.