Does historical and cultural heritage hamper or stimulate foreign real Essay

Does historical and cultural heritage hamper or stimulate foreign real estate investment in historical cities (St Petersburg) - Essay Example op reining horse and across the bridge one can also see the impearl Mariinsky palace made remarkably visible by the gallant anchor and grappling hook themed flag of St Petersburg flying high. The ever spring green Alexander garden which extends for a few miles with the broad river Neva flowing past. These and many other structures and features that characterize the St Petersburg skyline have made it to be one of the top historical tourism cities in Europe (Trachtenberg and Hyman, 1986). There have been numerous tussles between real estate developers and preservationists in this town. This is because a huge part of urban Russia is occupied by concrete apartments designed in the postmodern period with the intention of housing as many tenants as possible to handle the ever-expanding population. In the backdrop of all this, St Petersburg emerges as a jewel set idyllically by the river Neva and sharply contrasting with the nation’s postmodern infrastructure. In the course of them S oviet period it was been relegated to a run-down and neglected town, but it later reclaimed its glory and with this resurrection have come skyrocketing property values. This has resulted to questions of whether the city can survive with its historical significance intact in view of its incredible real estate potential. While UNESCO protects most of the structures for their historical relevance, there have been disputes on whether the real estate in St Petersburg is more beneficial acting as cultural edifice or being developed for the sake of economic growth. The opinion of the Russian government on this matter is not difficult to guess; in 2013, it prepared a draft document for UNESCO that appeared to be the start of a process to remove numerous protected historical sites from the organizations’ protected list of properties. According to Russians opposed to the move, it is a question of reserving the cultural integrity of the city and profiting from the high property values that would