ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

MAPPING HERITAGE ECONOMICS FOR SPATIAL ANALYSIS ■ 263
MAPS 9.3C-D
Fictional Town Showing (C) Buffer Zones around Monuments and
(D) Higher and Lower Economic Areas in the Historic City
C D
Source: Author.
heritage is a public good to the local inhabitants and its conservation is managed
at that level (cultural associations, groups of volunteers); on a national level (high
cultural value), cultural heritage becomes a nation’s public good and its conservation
is dealt with at the national level (national heritage list); on a world level
(outstanding cultural value), cultural heritage is a universal public good and its
conservation is a world issue (World Heritage List).
A typical feature of public goods is the existence of externalities, benefi ts, or
costs that are not accounted for by some kind of market transaction. Economists
customarily look to government for solutions to market failure for heritage
goods, or even to remedy the total absence of a market. 11
Given the public good dimension of historic city cores and the large amount of
externalities, an economic analysis that provides a broad vision on issues such as
growth, development, employment, urban planning, or transportation is important.
Th erefore, a macroeconomic analysis may sometimes be an appropriate tool
for an integrated vision of the multiple components of a historic city core, off ering
a holistic approach to optimizing the economic value of the city’s heritage.
Such an approach may be more or less suitable, depending on the size of the city
core: a suffi ciently large entity is required to refl ect a macroeconomic reality. A
large size embeds the critical mass of economic agents and diversifi ed activities.