Infrastructure Restoration as a Tool for Stimulating Urban Renewal— The Glasgow Canal

Abstract

This paper is concerned with examining the economic implications of refurbishing major pieces of redundant urban infrastructure, taking the Forth and Clyde Canal as a case study. In particular, it focusses on the role that such infrastructure may play in assisting urban renewal. While conventional, comprehensive cost-benefit analysis techniques offer one broad approach to evaluating such projects, for both institutional and technical reasons, specific refinements are often necessary. A central theme of the paper is that there is a need to develop a tractable framework of economic appraisal for major urban refurbishment projects given the institutional constraints imposed by the funding agencies.