The Economics of Urban Landmarks

This project is developed within the research agenda on the topic of Economic Valuation of Environmental Goods and Services that I propose to develop within the program of Urban Management and Development. The Landmarks Economy project has three phases. The first phase investigates from a theoretical point of view the meaning of an emblematic place and the different methods for its economic valuation. Many of these places generate a flow of eco-systemic services that provide welfare to society. However, the contribution of these places to individual and collective well-being, in most cases, has not been estimated and is therefore not taken into account when evaluating social choices regarding the public, private or mixed provision of these places.

In a second phase of the project, applied research is carried out on a case study. The funds requested for the research project would be destined mainly for the phase of applied research where a demand for recreation of the Monserrate hill in the city of Bogotá will be assessed.

In addition to determining the recreational demand of the site, the third phase of the project will apply techniques of choice experiments to estimate the willingness to pay for a hypothetical development of infrastructure linking the hills of Monserrate and Guadeloupe as an example of an emblematic built site. This application will explore the preferences of national and foreign citizens with respect to this proposal to improve the connectivity of the eastern hills of Bogota. Based on the results of the demand (phase 2) and valuation (phase 3) studies, the economic viability of the project will be explored under different scenarios of recreational demand and financing.

Later stages of the research agenda on the Economics of Emblematic Places include the identification and assessment of emblematic sites in rural contexts.

The start-up funds would mainly support the development of phases 1 and 2 of the proposal.

As mentioned in Part I of the proposal, this project concentrates on phases 1 and 2 of the research which study the economic significance of urban landmarks, their impact on social welfare, and the composition of demand for these sites using techniques for valuing environmental goods. Phases 1 and 2 of this proposal will be very useful for the formulation of a project aimed at improving the offer of perhaps the most important emblematic place for the city of Bogotá: the Sanctuary of Monserrate. The understanding of this place and its improvement is of great importance for the urban development of the city since the tourist and economic potential of this place has not yet been fully recognized. From the Urban Management and Development program, it is important to carry out relevant research that can inform public development policies. In particular, this research focuses on the assessment of the positive externalities that emblematic sites can offer in urban environments, a line of research that, in my opinion, has been little explored.