ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

GOVERNANCE IN HISTORIC CITY CORE REGENERATION PROJECTS ■ 173
• Erected theaters and cultural facilities; and
• Provided aff ordable housing to retain part of the local population and attract
new residents.
Th e project attracted private investors who undertook their own projects
triggered by the substantial investments in public infrastructure, public safety,
and heritage preservation undertaken by the ECHQ. Table 6.5 shows the mix of
investments that took place in the historic city core of Quito. Th ese results indicate
that Quito has succeeded in tackling the governance challenge of coordinating
the actions among an array of stakeholders, as well as raising private-sector
funding for the commercial components of the project. Th rough the activities of
the public-private corporation, the municipality managed to greatly expand the
scope of economic values put into play in the conservation of the historic city
core, putting heritage assets to a wide variety of uses.
Results
Although it is not possible using a retroactive assessment of project experience
to establish direct causality between the governance issues in the four
cities’ conservation eff orts and some of the results of those eff orts, a handful
of observations are worth mentioning. From the governance perspective, the
conservation strategies that managed to mobilize and engage the interest of a
wider group of actors are those of Oaxaca and Quito. In both cities, the conservation
process could adapt and create new uses for urban heritage assets
that, on top of having retained their historic, aesthetic, spiritual, and social
values, also have economic use and non-use values. Th ese assets are occupied
and maintained by a variety of enterprises, households, consumers, and public
and private institutions, contributing to the sustainability of the conservation.
Th e greater range and mix of social and economic activities found in the historic
city core are seen in the presence of residential, commercial, and institutional
land uses. As it can be observed in fi gure 6.7, Oaxaca and Quito have
more institutional (public and private) and residential land uses than Salvador
and Valparaiso.
Th e sustainability of the conservation process is attributed, in part, to the
greater diversifi cation and mix of uses and users of the historic city core, and, in
part, to the fi nancing scheme, which does not depend on the fortunes of only one
activity or the budget allocation of a sole institution. Th e expansion of the residential
land uses also brings stability to the process, generating demand for local
commerce and other services catering to the resident community. In contrast,
the number of residents decreased in Valparaiso and Salvador, which further
depressed the demand for local commerce and services.