ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

266 ■ THE ECONOMICS OF UNIQUENESS
Accordingly, public or public-private partnership arrangements are allowed
to correct dysfunctions resulting from free market mechanisms. Effi ciency in
resource allocation and equity or equal access to major resources are important
considerations. To provide equality of access to cultural goods for everyone,
public authorities need to take an active part in heritage management. City
administrators can act in various capacities: as owner and caretaker of heritage
buildings, as manager of heritage-related cultural activities, as levier of local
taxes, as provider of public subsidies or fi scal incentives, and as initiator and
entity in charge of the implementation of urban and legal regulations.
An intervention by city, regional, or national authorities in heritage management
or conservation is measured by the ensuing local expenditures (local public
consumption and investment) or alternately by tax exemption.
Th e mapping of economic values related to public intervention requires comparing
the public attributes of the heritage to these values. Mapping of the following
selected indicators describes the relationship between public intervention
and economic values:
• Publicly owned buildings;
• Public use of buildings, and public services;
• Public fi nancing, subsidies, and tax reductions (by tax parcels or by individual
properties);
• Public-regulated development and conservation projects;
• Local expenditures and jobs (spatial identifi cation of projects); and
• Public benefi ts from heritage-related initiatives: poverty alleviation, sanitation,
crime reduction, and improved public safety and wellbeing. 14
Economic Landscapes
Th e mapping process emphasizes the spatial distribution of economic values
related to heritage. Components of use values and non-use values do not always
show similar patterns or a consistent spatial distribution. Th ey should be shown
separately or in combination, to provide a comprehensive view of the economic
values of the city heritage. Th is facilitates the identifi cation of economic values
that are distributed across the area. Spatial information then provides an economic
landscape context to the historic city, with a high potential for policy
applications.
Explaining and summarizing the geographic information provided by economic
values on maps requires the identifi cation of patterns, connections, and
relationships between indicators of all categories of values. Th e process is twofold,
as described in fi gure 9.1: fi rst, the analysis of indicators related to categories
of values; second, the analysis of aggregated values to summarize and map the
information.