ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

MAPPING HERITAGE ECONOMICS FOR SPATIAL ANALYSIS ■ 255
By adapting and re-using outstanding monuments for contemporary needs, cities
seek to capture economic values to better preserve and utilize their cultural
assets. Covent Garden, in central London, is an example of continuous rethinking
and reuse of an urban fabric for changing needs. Originally an abbey—the
Convent of St. Peter—the site was also a major source of fruit and vegetable
production in London. Th e land was redeveloped by the early 17th century and
became an architectural ensemble, with an open air market in its center. Th e site
needed a redevelopment by the end of the 1960s when the market moved to a
new location. With many of the buildings protected through heritage designation,
the site was redesigned as a shopping center and tourist attraction.
Many historic buildings have a residential function. Th e expression of a use
value from buildings and monuments is given by real estate values, measured
by property values or rental values (e.g., actual rental values for tenant-occupied
housing, imputed rental value for owner-occupied housing). Many historic
buildings and monuments also provide services to the city government (a historic
town hall, for example) or serve as museums or performing arts venues. 8
Real estate values are thus market indicators of individual and collective demand
for the use of historic buildings and monuments. Mapping of rental or property
values requires the recording of heritage buildings and monuments to provide
the baseline data onto which values will be visualized. Rental and property values
are expressed in monetary terms or in indices. When individual or cadastral
databases are not available, real estate values are estimated in average terms for
blocks or building groups across the city.
Th e mapping of real estate values requires comparing physical and architectural
attributes of heritage buildings to rental or property values. Th e mapping of
the following selected indicators describes the relationship between occupancy of
heritage buildings and use values:
• Occupancy versus vacancy of heritage buildings;
• Use of buildings;
• Rental and property values;
• Property values (heritage versus non-heritage buildings);
• Housing aff ordability;
• Nonresident occupation (seasonal occupation, vacation rental housing);
• New residents versus initial population; and
• Conditions of conservation.
Th e mapping aims to evaluate economic values as they are related to building
occupancy, but also emphasizes such urban processes as gentrifi cation or poverty
alleviation. Mapping side-by-side housing aff ordability, incoming new residents,
and property prices highlights the relationship between the status of the heritage