50 C O N T E X T 1 0 8 : M A R C H 2 0 0 9 commercial edge of a trading city. Perhaps the most original book is Ordinary Landscapes, Special Places by Adam Menuge, which charts the growth of Liverpool’s 19th century suburbs through an affectionate, detailed, but always objective exposition of the development of Anfield and Breckfield: everyday places, threatened with clearance under the Pathfinder schemes. Each book tells its story in a concise and consistently well-illustrated manner, and concludes by devising guidelines to face and tackle the new tides of change that are certain to challenge the city. It is possible to read any one with profit, but there is something to be said for reading them all as an ensemble. Together, they tell an epic story of the building of a great city, a multitudinous tale of human endeavour, creativity, wealth, poverty and shared struggle. Michael Scammell, a conservation officer in East Cheshire The price of everything The Heritage Game: economics, policy, and practice Alan Peacock and Ilde Rizzo, Oxford University Press, 2008, 224pp, ISBN 978 0 19 921317 7, £30 The Heritage Game seeks to establish what economic analysis can contribute to the formulation and implementation of heritage policy. Adopting an admittedly elitist approach to what constitutes heritage – be it monuments of national importance or collections in museums and galleries – the book’s premise is that financial support from external sources, whether government grants, tax exemptions, private donations or other, is a prerequisite and that this needs to be justified. Working from the dual presumption that regulation in the historic environment has a negative impact on property values and that conservation is costly – and the curious misconception that the fact of listing implies that resources will be found to preserve [sic] all entries on the list – The Heritage Game seeks to position economics with a key role in deciding what should be preserved, how it should be managed and by whom. Not surprisingly, the co-authors are economists. Sir Alan Peacock is a former chief economic advisor to the Department of Trade and Industry and former chair of the Scottish Arts Council. Ilde Rizzo is professor of public finance at the University of Catania in Sicily. town’s maintenance and conservation, and how much. The results were positive.We are not, however, told if the outcome was implemented. The authors lighten what might otherwise be a dry promotional treatise with some self-deprecating humour. Attributing it (correctly or otherwise) to a definition of an economist, they quote Oscar Wilde: ‘a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’. Additionally, in a book that is peppered with tables of statistics that the authors admit are neither comprehensive enough nor sufficiently reliable to be useful, they write: ‘politicians use statistics the way drunks use lampposts: for support rather than illumination’. This book should be viewed as work in progress.With this in mind, the authors may be well advised to consider a more open definition of heritage, at least where the historic environment is concerned; the Burra Charter’s message that ‘the best conservation often involves the least work and can be inexpensive’; and that the purpose of conservation is not limited to cultural tourism. Dennis Rodwell, architectplanner and cultural heritage consultant, south east Scotland Productive tensions Architect and Engineer: a study in sibling rivalry Andrew Saint,Yale University Press (New Haven and London) 2008, 550pp, 338 b&w and 84 colour illustrations, ISBN 978 0 300 12443 9, £49.50 Viewed by Andrew Saint as a very long footnote to his fascinating and insightful book The Image of the Architect (1983), this sequel is filled with the results of the author’s long-term investigation into the different and varying parts played by architects and engineers in the creation of landmark buildings. Through case studies he unravels the respective roles of these parties in the execution of a wide range of building projects. Based mainly on an encyclopaedic knowledge of building literature rather than a study of primary sources, it has the great merit of considering completed buildings. This is usually in the light of their designers’ intentions, rather than simply recounting critics’ opinions. In this way Saint conveys inspiringly his excitement over the process of procuring buildings. The book’s structure is founded on an initial chapter that considers public To gain value from this book readers need to see beyond the economists’ terminology of ‘supply and demand for heritage services’, historical artefacts characterised as ‘stock’, and the ubiquitous ‘performance indicators’ and ‘cost-benefit analyses; and the authors’ apparent detachment from building conservation practice today, at least in the UK.We are told, for example, that historic cities, towns and villages in Sicily may have to remain neglected or demolished unless they are adapted to modern use: sine qua non. The Heritage Game will be of interest to those involved in bidding for support funding, especially for museums and galleries. It discloses the constraints but also the opportunities for supporting informed opinion beyond the balance sheet mentality. Using the term ‘merit goods’, the authors support the decisions of historians and others as to what is considered to constitute heritage. Helpfully, they admit that the evaluation of experts is not necessarily the only benchmark. ‘What constitutes heritage is not an objective fact but rather a social and cultural construct that is likely to change through time.’ The book may also be of interest to those guiding conservation projects in the built environment that seek to obtain support funding on the basis of their contribution to cultural tourism, by quantifying indirect benefits such as increased visitor numbers and expenditure. The book relates an interesting example of a survey of visitors to a historic town. The visitors were asked if they would be prepared to pay an entrance fee, contributing to the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=