This article conceptualizes cultural heritage as a dynamic system of assets, practices, meanings, actors, and rules that interact across scales and through time. It also sets out the book’s aim: to move beyond object-centred preservation toward a systemic understanding and design, in which values, governance instruments, social dynamics, and environmental forces are treated holistically and as interconnected. For this purpose, a mapping of new heritage approaches—related to values-based conservation, critical heritage, rights-based and participatory governance, the Historic Urban Landscape, resilience and climate adaptation, heritage futures, adaptive reuse and circularity, and digital/design-led practices—has been conducted. It is shown how these approaches collectively advance a systemic view of cultural heritage. The article analyses how heritage as a system has evolved, how it can be described and conceptualized, and, most importantly, how this is connected to current challenges and projects. The chapter closes with a roadmap to the volume and its chapters.