Long-term management of building stocks

The built environment is composed of buildings, infrastructures and cultural landscapes (stocks). These man-made artefacts constitute a complex capital (natural, man-made, human, social and cultural) and its evolution is a crucial parameter in sustainable development. Their composition and dynamics can be modelled as flows or as capitals or combinations of the two. Examples of the modelling of the long-term behaviour of different types of stock are given and their behaviour is analysed and discussed. A resource economic framework is presented and strategies for two different types of stocks, old/stationary and new/expanding, are compared. The importance of institutional regimes for the long-term management of stocks and the relation to demographic and retirement finance are discussed. The long-term institutional aspects have to be taken into account to avoid dramatic losses of economic, social and cultural capitals in the coming decades.