Youth A Multicriteria Approach for the Evaluation of the Sustainability of Re-use of Historic Buildings in Venice

The paper presents a multiple criteria model for the evaluation of the sustainability of projects for the economic re-use of historical buildings in Venice. The model utilises the relevant parameters for the appraisal of sustainability, aggregated into three macroindicators: intrinsic sustainability, context sustainability and economic-financial feasibility. The model has been calibrated by a panel of experts and tested on two reuse hypothesis of the Old Arsenal in Venice.multiple criteria valuation, economic reuse, historical building conservation

A Multicriteria Approach for the Evaluation of the Sustainability of Re-use of Historic Buildings in Venice

The paper presents a multiple criteria model for the evaluation of the sustainability of projects for the economic re-use of historical buildings in Venice. The model utilises the relevant parameters for the appraisal of sustainability, aggregated into three macro-indicators: intrinsic sustainability, context sustainability and economic-financial feasibility. The model has been calibrated by a panel of experts and tested on two reuse hypotheses of the Old Arsenal in Venice. The tests have proven the model to be a useful support in the early stages of evaluation of re-use projects, where economic improvements are to be combined with conservation, as it supports the identification of critical points and the selection of projects, thus providing not only a check-list of variables to be considered, but an appraisal of trade-offs between economic uses and requirements of conservation.Economic Reuse, Historical Building Conservation

Economic Valuation of On Site Material Damages of High Water on Economic Activities based in the City of Venice: Results from a Dose-Response-Expert-Based Valuation Approach

The paper focuses on the economic assessment of damages caused by high water in the city of Venice. In particular, we focus our attention on a valuation exercise that addresses the estimation of monetary, short period, on-site damages due to high water events on the different business activities located in Venice. On-site damages include both mitigation costs, which refer to all types of financial expenditure undergone to avert physical and material damages caused by flooding, and remediation costs, i.e. costs to be sustained for maintenance and substitution of affected building elements. Hence, the present study can be considered as a pioneering attempt to analytically quantify, from an economic point of view, on-site damages from high water. An integrated dose-response modelling and an expert-based valuation approach have been selected as the most suitable economic valuation methodology to shed light on the on-site damages. The main focus of the work is to assess dose-response relationships, which are able to describe the physical effects of high water on the different on-site damage categories, including inner and front doors maintenance, cleaning of pavements and maintenance of the walls. Bearing in mind such an economic valuation framework, we proceed with the estimation of on-site damages not only for the present high water situation (business as usual) but also extend the valuation exercise to three additional high water scenarios: (1) a climate change scenario; (2) a high water protection scenario; and, (3) a combined climate change and protection scenario. Estimation results show that the welfare loss due to on-site, short-term damages supported by the business activities ranges from 3.41 to 4.73 million Euro per year, respectively for the business as usual and climate change scenarios. Finally, we can conclude that the introduction of a public policy protection mechanism that defends the city of Venice from any flooding above 110 cm above the Punta della Salute Tidal Datum, such as the MOSE, will reduce the on-site damages supported by the business activities up to 2.87 million Euro per year.High water damages, Venice, Economic valuation

Redeveloping Derelict and Underused Historic City Areas: Evidence from a Survey of Real Estate Developers

Infill redevelopment—the transformation of previously used urban sites—is generally regarded as an important way to attain environmental and urban sustainability goals. At many locales, however, such urban renewal, community development, and tax revenue goals must be reconciled with historic preservation objectives. Are economic incentives and regulatory relief useful tools for encouraging reuse of abandoned or underutilized urban sites with historic buildings? Answering this question is of key importance for many European cities and for older US cities, and has important implications in terms of urban sustainability and “smart growth” initiatives. We use conjoint choice experiments to explore the relative importance of economic incentives, regulatory relief, land use and property regime offerings at underutilized historical sites in Venice, Italy. We survey real estate developers and investors, and ask them to choose between pairs of hypothetical projects in three Venice locations, as well as between one of these projects and the alternative to do a development project elsewhere. Statistical models of the responses to these choice questions indicate that respondents are sensitive to the price of acquiring the land (and hence to any policies that influence prices), and especially sensitive to the property regime that would be granted to developers and investors and to the allowable land use. Contrary to expectations, our respondents were insensitive to tightening or relaxing the stringency of building conservation restrictions. Our findings sound a common theme with Howland (2004), who warns that redevelopment of previously used sites in Baltimore is impaired by obsolete land uses, zoning and infrastructure (but not by suspected or actual contamination). We conclude that the City should focus on offering land uses and property regimes that are more in tune with developer demand.Conjoint Choice Experiments, Real Estate Developers, Building Conservation Restrictions, Redevelopment Incentives, Brownfields, Infill Redevelopment

Redeveloping Derelict and Underused Historical City Areas: Evidence from a Survey of Real Estate Developers

Infill redevelopment—the transformation of previously used urban sites—is generally regarded as an important way to attain environmental and urban sustainability goals. At many locales, however, such urban renewal, community development, and tax revenue goals must be reconciled with historic preservation objectives. Are economic incentives and regulatory relief useful tools for encouraging reuse of abandoned or underutilized urban sites with historic buildings? Answering this question is of key importance for many European cities and for older US cities, and has important implications in terms of urban sustainability and “smart growth” initiatives. We use conjoint choice experiments to explore the relative importance of economic incentives, regulatory relief, land use and property regime offerings at underutilized historical sites in Venice, Italy. We survey real estate developers and investors, and ask them to choose between pairs of hypothetical projects in three Venice locations, as well as between one of these projects and the alternative to do a development project elsewhere. Statistical models of the responses to these choice questions indicate that respondents are sensitive to the price of acquiring the land (and hence to any policies that influence prices), and especially sensitive to the property regime that would be granted to developers and investors and to the allowable land use. Contrary to expectations, our respondents were insensitive to tightening or relaxing the stringency of building conservation restrictions. Our findings sound a common theme with Howland (2004), who warns that redevelopment of previously used sites in Baltimore is impaired by obsolete land uses, zoning and infrastructure (but not by suspected or actual contamination). We conclude that the City should focus on offering land uses and property regimes that are more in tune with developer demand.conjoint choice experiments, real estate developers, building conservation restrictions, redevelopment incentives, brownfields, infill redevelopment

Evaluation of Urban Improvement on the Islands of the Venice Lagoon: A Spatially-Distributed Hedonic-Hierarchical Approach

This paper presents a model for the evaluation of environmental and urban improvements on the islands of the Venetian lagoon. The model simulates the changes in residential real estate values using a value function integrated in a geographical database which provides spatial distributions of values changes. The fairly weak market signals, fragmented demand and strong externalities, and the scarcity of market data available do not permit the use of econometric models for value appraisal. Appropriate hedonic-hierarchical value functions are calibrated on the basis of a set of indicators of the characteristics of the buildings and the location. Some applications of the model are illustrated simulating two scenarios of future interventions which are actually being discussed or realised and involving the island of Murano, Burano and S. Erasmo in the Venice Lagoon. The interventions considered are: subway beyond the lagoon connecting Murano with Venice and the mainland, and the solution of “high water” problems on Murano, Burano and S. Erasmo.Public work assessment, Property value, Hierarchical analysis

Do We Care about Built Cultural Heritage? The Empirical Evidence Based on the Veneto House Market

Italian historical buildings require urgent and costly maintenance and restoration works, but neither the local, nor the national public administrators can afford these expenditures. Nevertheless the built cultural heritage represent a unique resource of the territory, as it embodies the local social, historical, and cultural values, generates positive externalities (Musgrave, 1959), and stimulates economic activities mainly related to tourism. Is it possible to quantify how much we care about historical buildings and to measure this value in monetary terms? The aim of this paper is to answer to this question via the hedonimetric approach. Specifically, we try to verify if the proximity to historical villas, districts, palaces, squares, fortresses, religious buildings and archeological site systematically influence the house market equilibrium price in the Veneto region (Italy). The paper is organized as follows: in section two a brief review of the literature is reported, in section three the database used for the hedonimetric estimates is described, in section four the econometric models and the results we had obtained are illustrated, and in section five some final comments are drawn.Cultural Heritage Externalities, Hedonic Housing Price Method

The heat-health nexus in the urban context: A systematic literature review exploring the socio-economic vulnerabilities and built environment characteristics

Of all-natural disasters, extreme high temperatures events are the main cause of weather-related mortality. The compact urban settings of cities, the dependency on infrastructural systems as well as the larger concentration of people and economic activities make urban areas particularly vulnerable to health risks due to heat. To investigate vulnerabilities to heat, the study illustrates how vulnerability factors together with the hazard and the urban parameters determine the nexus between the heat and the health outcome, here called heat-health nexus. Peer-reviewed articles with no language limitations were searched from the first available record subjected to the imposed selection criteria. First, the information related to the study area were analysed, taking into consideration the level of resolution to investigate the scale of analysis. Then, the specific hazard parameters, divided in simple or combined weather indices, were evaluated. For sensitivity and adaptive capacity aspects, the study considered four distinct categories of de- terminants: mental and physical health, demographics, social and economic status. Finally, when looking at enhanced exposure, groups of determinants of vulnerability, divided between those describing indoor and outdoor environment conditions were analysed. Results demonstrated a heterogeneous spatial distribution of the identified case studies about heat and health in the urban context and highlighted different characteristics related to climate hazard, exposure, vulnerability and enhanced exposure factors in relation to the health of the population. This literature review demonstrate that a detailed identification of sensitivity, adaptive capacity and enhanced exposure elements is crucial in the implementation of effective adaptation measures in the health context

The heat-health nexus in the urban context: A systematic literature review exploring the socio-economic vulnerabilities and built environment characteristics

Abstract Of all-natural disasters, extreme high temperatures events are the main cause of weather-related mortality. The compact urban settings of cities, the dependency on infrastructural systems as well as the larger concentration of people and economic activities make urban areas particularly vulnerable to health risks due to heat. To investigate vulnerabilities to heat, the study illustrates how vulnerability factors together with the hazard and the urban parameters determine the nexus between the heat and the health outcome, here called heat-health nexus. Peer-reviewed articles with no language limitations were searched from the first available record subjected to the imposed selection criteria. First, the information related to the study area were analysed, taking into consideration the level of resolution to investigate the scale of analysis. Then, the specific hazard parameters, divided in simple or combined weather indices, were evaluated. For sensitivity and adaptive capacity aspects, the study considered four distinct categories of determinants: mental and physical health, demographics, social and economic status. Finally, when looking at enhanced exposure, groups of determinants of vulnerability, divided between those describing indoor and outdoor environment conditions were analysed. Results demonstrated a heterogeneous spatial distribution of the identified case studies about heat and health in the urban context and highlighted different characteristics related to climate hazard, exposure, vulnerability and enhanced exposure factors in relation to the health of the population. This literature review demonstrate that a detailed identification of sensitivity, adaptive capacity and enhanced exposure elements is crucial in the implementation of effective adaptation measures in the health context

Assessing the Impact of Urban Improvement on Housing Values: A Hedonic Pricing and Multi-Attribute Analysis Model for the Historic Centre of Venice

The Hedonic Pricing Method is one of the principal assessment methods for evaluating services and resources not normally exchanged on the market. However, the method is often unable to account for the great variety of qualities in an urban context and faces scarce and heterogeneous market data. This paper presents a model for the valuation of benefits generated by environmental and urban improvement investments adopting a mixed hedonic-multi-attribute procedure for modeling a value function of urban real estate values. The peculiarity of the model is that the independent variables are aggregated indicators, which synthetize more detailed characteristics. Using the expertise of real estate agents, all relevant variables influencing real estate values were weighted and synthetized in a set of cardinal indicators. Next, market prices were used to calibrate a hedonic function that transforms the cardinal indicators into real estate values. The valuation model was integrated into a GIS for mapping the housing value, and its variation induced by urban investment. The proposed model pointed out plausible and robust results, in particular, the possibility to use any available information, such as location, position, technical and economic characteristics of buildings, and organize it in a flexible and transparent way, and to keep evident the role of each characteristic through the hierarchical structure of the model. The model was applied to the real estate market of Venice to test the effects of the MOSE project (Electromechanical Experimental Module) for the protection of Venice from high tides. The results of the application showed a relevant increase in real estate values in the center of Venice, especially related to property in ground floor units, of about 1.4 billion (sic)