The Circular Cultural Landscape Model: Bridging Historic Urban Landscape and Circular Economy

This article examines the conceptual and practical relationships between UNESCO’s 2011 Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) Recommendation and the European Commission’s 2020 Circular Economy (CE) Action Plan, bringing together cultural heritage conservation and sustainable resource management. A comparative analysis was conducted using directed qualitative content analysis across four analytical themes: value systems, resource management, governance models, and sustainability perspectives. Building upon these results, this article proposes the circular cultural landscape (CCL) model, which positions cultural heritage as an active component of circular systems through four interconnected layers. To illustrate its potential applicability, the model is translated into a preliminary assessment framework through the proposed CCL index and conceptually demonstrated using a hypothetical scenario in the Balat neighborhood of Istanbul. Rather than providing empirical validation, the scenario illustrates how the framework may support the integrated assessment of cultural, environmental, social, and economic sustainability in historic urban landscapes. The proposed CCL model offers a conceptual and methodological foundation for future research and decision support in sustainable heritage management.