The book presents a methodology for detecting intervention needs on existing healthcare buildings and estimating the related costs, to perform a sustainable financial planning for modernization, regulatory adjustment and performance upgrade. By the identification of specific parameters, characterizing the building in terms of layout typology, technical features and services provision, it proposes a framework for the collection of relevant information to current regulations and standards. Integrated evaluation tools are developed to perform first a technical assessment of the investigated building, basing on the survey of its key features and on the codification of standard actions. Then, appraisal procedure valuates intervention cost from the similarity degree between the object of analysis and a set of interventions already performed on healthcare assets. The book offers a valuable tool for technical professionals, public administrations and healthcare managers engaged in maintenance and performance assessment of healthcare facilities.

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 quot;smart growthquot; 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.

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.

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.

Contingent Valuation (CV) is one of the most used methods for environmental resources evaluation, within cost benefit analysis. Here, CV is used to estimate boating demand function of an important wetland in Italy: the Venice lagoon. Demand functions have been utilised to assess the consequences of annual charge for lagoon recreational use by boats. Valuation has been carried out using the classic "bidding game" approach during interviews to a representative sample of boat owners which go on a trip to the lagoon. The representative group has been gained from a preliminary search within the wet docks facing the lagoon and within the moorage holders on the canals in the Venice historic centre.