Publication: Investment in Urban Heritage : Economic Impacts of Cultural Heritage Projects in FYR Macedonia and Georgia
Loading...
Published
2012-09
ISSN
Date
2014-03-25
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Although World Bank projects in the cultural heritage field are subject to the usual assessments that are applied to any project implementation, little is known about the subsequent performance of these projects in the years post-completion. This study was undertaken to provide some empirical evidence for the economic impacts of cultural heritage investment. Two case studies were chosen for this purpose, in the historic town centers of Skopje, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Tbilisi, Georgia, respectively. The economic principles those are important for the analysis of cultural heritage investment decisions make use of concepts such as scarcity, opportunity cost, and public preferences. The study confirms the positive impacts of the investments. In the Macedonian case, the project helped to stimulate an ongoing investment of US$2.5 million in the project site, the Skopje old bazaar. Tourist numbers increased compared to the control site in Prilep; between 2005 and 2010, daily tourist numbers in the Skopje Old Bazaar increased by 90 percent compared to a slight decline in Prelip. Employment also grew more rapidly in the target site than in the control area. This study leads to some lessons for the design of heritage projects and for the conduct of an ex post economic impact evaluation.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Throsby, David. 2012. Investment in Urban Heritage : Economic Impacts of Cultural Heritage Projects in FYR Macedonia and Georgia. Urban development series;knowledge papers
no. 16. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17386 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Guizhou Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection and Development Project : Cultural Heritage Tourism Strategic Overview(Washington, DC, 2006-08-29)In June 2006, the Guizhou Tourism Administration's Guizhou Provincial Rural Tourism Development Plan was approved by the National Tourism Administration of The People's Republic of China (CNTA). This plan provides official strategic guidance for the development of the rural tourism sector and identifies around 160 villages for development. The proposals for Bank finance are primarily located within rural villages. Based on an assessment of their tourism appeal and location, 60 of the 160 sites identified in the Guizhou Provincial Rural Tourism Development Plan have been prioritized for development over the next five years under the loan being sought from the World Bank. The proposal provides a conceptual development plan for 60 sites, including development and financial models, products to be marketed, and involvement of a range of stakeholders including private investors, NGOs and rural tourism associations. The consultants are encouraged by the proposals that provide for participation of local communities, however these proposals will need to be integrated with the infrastructure development plans in the next steps of project preparation.Publication Conserving the Past as a Foundation for the Future : China-World Bank Partnership on Cultural Heritage Conservation(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-09)The rich cultural heritage of China is an essential touchstone of its collective identity. The country's archaeological sites, historic architecture, expressive arts, cultural landscapes, and ethnic diversity also are treasured around the world. Despite their importance, China's cultural assets are under tremendous pressure due to the country's rapid development, particularly its rapid urbanization. Moreover, rising incomes and mobility have significantly increased domestic tourism, leading to the overdevelopment and deterioration of cultural heritage sites. However, many of China's government officials, conservationists, and community groups have recognized these threats and, over the past several decades, have worked tirelessly to protect their country's cultural heritage. Based on the 12 projects developed under this partnership, this report presents an overview of the project approaches and experiences, takes stock of the challenges, extracts initial lessons learned, and identifies new directions and challenges ahead. The principal audience of the report is national, provincial, and municipal decision-makers engaged in conserving China's cultural heritage. This report also is intended to be of relevance to World Bank staff and those in the international community who wish to gain an overview of the projects conserving cultural heritage in China that have received World Bank financing.Publication Inclusive Heritage-Based City Development Program in India(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-10-01)This report summarizes the motivation, objectives, methodology, results and lessons learned from the design and implementation of the Demonstration Program on Inclusive Heritage-based City Development in India. The development objective of this program is to test an inclusive heritage-based approach to city development planning in three pilot cities with a focus on learning and future expansion. The pilot cities include a metropolis (Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh), a medium-size city (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh) and a small city (Ajmer-Pushkar, Rajasthan). The pilot cities have been selected on the basis of population, living standards in historic areas, heritage value and reform orientation. These cities represent India s diversity in terms of settlements as well as social and cultural heritage, and provide scope for customizing the tested planning instruments, specific institutional and financial arrangements and methods at an early stage. An initial activity is the first phase of a larger program aimed at providing national policy makers, state governments, urban local bodies and sector professionals in India with exemplary practices, institutional arrangements as well as financial and management incentives that can assist them in incorporating cultural heritage into their overall city development planning framework. This activity has three components: component 1 offers institutional set-up and selection of pilot cities; component 2 provides advisory support to pilot Cities; and component 3 maintains knowledge management and learning systems. Overall, the program is expected to leverage existing public funds under national and state-level schemes that have been earmarked for urban renewal investments but are currently not being utilized for this purpose due to lack of capacities, appropriate mechanisms and tools.Publication Ethiopia - In Makeda's Footsteps : Towards a Strategy for Pro-Poor Tourism Development(Washington, DC, 2006-06)The Government of Ethiopia (GOE) has set in train an initiative to develop the tourism sector in Ethiopia. This study supports this objective through in depth analysis of the supply and demand sides of the sector and by proposing a focused and viable strategy to grow tourist visitation and revenues whilst supporting the GOE poverty reduction goals. The study identified that tourism generated approximately US$ 132 million in in country expenditure revenue from a base of about 150,000 foreign visitors who came to Ethiopia for various purposes such as leisure, business and conferences and to visit friends and relatives. The study established that each of these categories of visitor have different expenditure and length of stay characteristics and based on this suggests a strategy of focusing on the development of leisure tourism, identifying this as the segment with the most potential to deliver growth. A final theme focuses on the need to improve demand for tourism and to work on the image of Ethiopia. Several strategies are suggested including marketing and business development support for Ethiopian tour operators and accommodation owners. A major issue identified is that Ethiopia has little defined product being sold in the market place. It is expected that a strategy that defines product, develops it and improves its delivery will yield improved demand and image results.Publication Handshake, No. 10 (July 2013)(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2013-07)This paper includes the following headings: education public, private, and partnerships, or PPPs come of age; vouching for the future; mobile learning dials up success; U.S. Secretary of Education by Arne Duncan; perspective; compass; and legalese.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.