ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

FINANCIAL MECHANISMS FOR HISTORIC CITY ■ 215
States; that is, contaminated land usually as the result of former industrial activity
(Syms 1999). Instead, the approach of this chapter is to examine urban brownfi elds
where there is continuity between the past and the present and between natural
and manmade environments (De Sousa 2000; NRTEE 2003; RESCUE 2004; UK
DETR 1999). From this perspective, urban areas that are blighted and idle but that
have cultural heritage, such as the historic city cores of Asmara and Massawa in
Eritrea, can also be identifi ed as urban brownfi elds (see fi gure 8.1 and box 8.1).
If the value capital of a city is its urban heritage, this implies that in both cases
of brownfi elds (natural and cultural) there is a depreciation of this urban capital,
either due to site contamination (in the natural brownfi eld) or to its derelict and
blighted status (in the case of cultural brownfi eld). Th e area of Makina in Medina
Fes (Morocco), for example, combines these two aspects; it is in need of conservation
and rehabilitation of its historic housing stock, but in the area of Ain
Nokbi, a remediation plan has been developed to reduce the land’s contamination
and pollution resulting from copperware activity.
FIGURE 8.1
Types of Urban Brownfi elds
Natural heritage
Site assessment
Remediation planning
Direct cost of
redevelopment
Source: Authors.
Urban brownfields Definition
Public good characteristics
Risks and uncertainity
Externalities
Cultural heritage
Costs Benefits
Economic and social
benefit for specific
economic actors
Financial benefits for
specific economic actors
Typology
Characteristics
Impacts