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What is The Future for Cities?Author: Fanni Melles
WTF for Cities? is a platform to introduce and connect people who are actively and consciously working on the future of cities and to introduce research about the future of cities. Language: en Genres: Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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How much are public spaces worth? (475)
Episode 475
Monday, 26 October, 2026
Jagoda Adamus's 2023 paper asks what public spaces are worth when the market will not name a price. This debate tests whether total economic value can hold a plaza's cultural worth.One side of the conversation treats culture, bequest, and the joy of a bench as human utility already inside the economic account, and points to hedonic prices and contingent valuation as the tools. The other treats David Throsby's cultural capital as a separate category, and argues that genius loci cannot be transferred to a shopping mall that only copies the functions. Both agree that floor area and commercial income miss what public space does for wellbeing, and that a city negotiates better when it can speak about worth in more than one language. The research transcript is on the site.(00:00) What a plaza is worth(03:17) Total economic value(04:16) Cultural capital apart(05:02) Pricing the unpriceable(06:03) Urban squares resist the tools(07:37) Scarcity and free riders(09:28) Replacement and the mall(10:18) Genius loci(11:10) The language of capital(12:28) Where both sides meethttps://doi.org/10.33119/GN/163105ShownotesPairs with episode 476If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link)Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
