ensuring economic sustainability

The policy framework should promote economic development which does not conflict with environment protection and environmental and social sustainability. Economic development here is understood not as mere economic growth indicated by cost-benefit analyses, but as an activity which allows to avoid gentrification, over tourism and growing social inequalities. Adaptive heritage reuse should foster job creation, increase economic activity and household incomes, revitalize local communities and empower residents, achieve better mixes of use within neighborhood, reduce vacancies, and foster the controlled growth of the properties’ value. As such, it helps to achieve some economic objectives, but rather as a part of long-term strategies than short-term profit-oriented projects.

Key references

• Auclair, Elizabeth, and Graham Fairclough. 2015. “Living Between Past and Future. An introduction to heritage and cultural sustainability.” In Theory and Practice in Heritage and Sustainability. Between past and future, edited by Elizabeth Auclair and Graham Fairclough, 1-22. London and New York: Routledge.

• Gunay, Zeynep. 2008. “Neoliberal Urbanism and Sustainability of Cultural Heritage.” In Neoliberal Urbanism and Cultural Change. 44th ISOCARP Congress, January 2008. https://isocarp.org/app/uploads/2014/05/Gunay.pdf

• Lombardi, Rachel, Libbi Porter, Austin Barber, and Chris D. F. Rogers. 2011. “Conceptualizing Sustainability in UK Urban Regeneration: A Discursive Formation.” Urban Studies 48, no. 2: 273-296.

• Rypkema, Donovan D. 2014. The Economics of Historic Preservation. A Community Leader’s Guide. 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: PlaceEconomics.