ABSTRACT
This paper examines the critique of discounting the pro-environmentalist, sustainability lobby have made in relation to property valuation, investment appraisal and the application of the principle in the income based net annual return model of land use time-horizons and the spatial configuration of building programmes. It examines the argument put forward regarding the link between the selection of a discount rate, the valuation of property, appraisal of investment and inter-generational downloading of costs associated with the use of land, repair, maintenance and refurbishment of buildings. The downloading of costs, seen by some, to work against the introduction of experimental designs aimed at energy saving, clean air environments. The paper suggests there are a number of contradictions in this argument and proposes that an assessment of the impact which the redevelopment process has on the environment of cities should be based on an economic evaluation and appraisal of land use, building obsolescence and depreciation. What the paper refers to as an economic evaluation and appraisal of the effects land use, building obsolescence and depreciation have on the environment of cities.
