ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

MAPPING HERITAGE ECONOMICS FOR SPATIAL ANALYSIS ■ 275
natural landscape and river. For its unique character, the old town of Djenné
was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988. Its tangible cultural heritage
consists of the Great Mosque (the largest earthen building in the world), an
architectural ensemble of earthen houses, and four archaeological sites outside
the city’s perimeter. Th e urban heritage of Djenné’s historic center includes
1,858 houses (with 12,000 inhabitants), of which some 50 two-story houses
are built in the traditional “djennenké” style. Djenné was a center of Islamic
learning and pilgrimage, one of the most important in West Africa, and its
Mosque, originally built during the 13th century and said to be the biggest
earthen construction in the world, dominates the market square.
Th e government of Mali attracted an important collaboration involving the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Dutch Restoration Project and the European Union
to preserve the unique architecture of the town. Th e urban perimeter is quite
limited by the river surrounding it, yet it is estimated by UNESCO that in 2025
the population in the historic city core will have increased by 45 percent (from
13,000 to 19,000). In recent years, the city has faced the following economic and
urban challenges, which aff ect its heritage: a gradual impoverishment of the
population due to increased droughts, which makes the maintenance of the traditional
earthen facades more diffi cult to aff ord, resulting in building abandonment
and collapses; exodus of the young to bigger cities; struggle to keep the
mason profession alive, with suffi cient work and a transition of knowledge to
younger generations; modernization of the traditional houses, with the introduction
of water and modern amenities; new constructions in modern styles and
with new materials; infrastructure, sewage, and water evacuation issues; unstable
tourism (aft er a steady increase, it has stopped due to terrorist activity in the
Northern Malian desert). (See box 9.4.)
Th e Djenné test case aimed to collect data to test the mapping techniques. 19
Non-market benefi ts were not addressed specifi cally in the survey, but are
known to be signifi cant to the city of Djenné. Th ese were grossly estimated.
Survey questions were structured to roughly capture the use values of Djenné’s
heritage for the year 2008. With reference to use values, neighborhoods
(parcels data were not available for housing), historic buildings, and heritagerelated
business (hotels, restaurants, transportation by punt, art and craft s,
masons, guides) were identifi ed on a digitalized base map (map 9.7A).
Individual thematic maps illustrate each category of economic values:
• Non-use values (map 9.7B): Spatial analysis areas were drawn on the original
map to identify places with the highest values. Contingent valuation method
was not applied to Djenné. Nevertheless, the whole historic city core has
substantial non-use values. Th e Mosque appears in darker tones because of
its status as Djenné’s architectural landmark, and as a monument with outstanding
cultural value.