This book is a sequel of joint research in 1982-84 by the writer and Professor Joseph Schweid with a grant from the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. The Research Report, The Role of Economics in the Conservation of the Cultural Built Heritage: Policy Conclusions for Israel, was presented in English in four parts:

1. I Planned Conservation of the Built Environment

2. II Economics in the Conservation of the Built Environment

3. III Two Jerusalem Case Studies

4. IV Application to Israel: Principles, Practice and Procedures

The Jerusalem Institute asked that the Report be published in two versions: in Hebrew for the Israeli audience and in English for Israel and abroad.

Since the Israeli audience would be primarily concerned with Parts III and IV, these were highlighted in the Israeli version with the remainder being presented as summaries. This version, edited by Joseph Schweid, appeared under the title Conservation of the Built Heritage (Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 1986).

By the same token the English version required adaptation of the Research Report, in this instance the omission of Parts III and IV, and concentration on Parts I and II. In addition there was a further significant enlargement of scope. This arose from the experience of writing the Research Report, namely, that it was not practicable to discuss the economics of conservation without first presenting as a context the subject matter of conservation; and not practicable to present the conservation of the cultural built heritage without discussing as a context the conservation of the built heritage in general.