Human settlements evolved over time and the historic towns of yesterday are the growing urban centres of today. The built environment in historic areas is undergoing such rapid transformation that visitors are no longer able to experience cultural values of the past. Identifying the cultural values that people experience in terms of the qualities of what, where and how may support a more realistic form of conservation planning. To assess one’s cultural experience in a historic centre, it is important to delineate the significant architectural heritage and its multiple qualities across time. For the purposes of this heritage value study, the historic city of Tiruchirappalli in southern India is chosen. The city, one of the oldest in India, is situated on the banks of a river and comprises an age-old hillock and many other important built forms. Using rapid ethnographic assessment methods, 12 characteristic forms were found and these were categorised according to eight qualities: historical, sacred, visual, spatial, functional, physical, memorable and sensitive. The validity of these qualities from peoples’ experiences on cultural values require further examination on a few sample streets with special focus on where and how visitors and residents feel the strongest sense of place.

人类住区随着时间的推移而发展，昨天的历史名镇是当今不断发展的城市中心。历史地区的建筑环境正在经历如此迅速的转变，以至于游客不再能够体验到过去的文化价值。根据什么，在哪里和如何进行的质量来确定人们所体验到的文化价值，以支持更现实的保护规划形式。为了评估一个人在一个历史中心的文化体验，重要的是要划定重要的建筑遗产及其随时间的多重品质。出于遗产价值研究的目的，选择了印度南部的历史名城蒂鲁吉拉伯利（Tiruchirappalli）。这座城市是印度最古老的城市之一，坐落在河岸上，包括一个古老的小丘和许多其他重要的建筑形式。使用快速的人种志评估方法，发现了12种特征形式，并根据历史，神圣，视觉，空间，功能，身体，令人难忘和敏感的八种品质对这些特征进行了分类。从人们的文化价值观经验来看，这些品质的正确性需要在一些样本街道上进行进一步研究，特别关注游客和居民在何处以及如何感觉到最强烈的地方感。