مدل های مدیریت مرکز شهر: چشم انداز اروپا

Town centre management (TCM) has evolved considerably over the last 25 years in terms of both its purpose and methods. Whilst most reviews of TCM to date have focused on its development within the Anglo-Saxon world (typically North America and the United Kingdom), comparatively little attention has been given to other models of place and town centre management that have emerged across Europe. This paper seeks to redress the balance by exploring the relevance of other models from a number of European countries, which were researched using a case study approach and conceptualised within a framework which seeks to classify TCM schemes by their funding sources and structural formality. It is argued that, despite their lower budgets or lack of formal recognition, other models of TCM such as informal place management schemes or hybrids of formal and informal TCM schemes can often be just as effective in delivering positive outcomes for urban communities.

It has become commonly accepted that places, however broadly or narrowly defined, need to be managed actively (Oc and Tiesdell, 1998, McGill, 1998, Symes and Steel, 2003, van Dijk, 2006 and Seisdedos, 2008) to ensure their sustainability (Girardet, 2006). This is in line with Elkington’s (1994) conceptual “triple bottom line” principle of economic, social and environmental performance. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the level of individual towns and cities – in spite of the abundance of definitions that this process has generated in the urban management literature (Mattingly, 1994) – as growing megacities compete for prosperity on a global scale (Marcuse and Van Kempen, 2000) whilst striving to retain a local identity (Borja and Castells, 1997 and Czarniawska, 2002). Over the last quarter of a century, TCM has emerged as a practical response to the complexities of urban revitalisation (Page and Hardyman, 1996) at the local level with valuable contributions through area-based marketing (Stubbs et al., 2002 and Warnaby et al., 2005), sustainable development (Banister, 1998), the engagement of disadvantaged socio-economic groups (Woolley, 2000 and Guy and Duckett, 2003), frameworks for place making and regeneration (Otsuka and Reeve, 2007a) and the development of integrated area-based public–private sector partnerships (Jones et al., 2003, Lloyd et al., 2003 and de Nisco et al., 2008). Against this backdrop, we present an overview of how TCM has evolved in Europe in the recent past. By taking a pan-European perspective, this study seeks to widen previous debates – generally centred around British perspectives of the concept – by exploring parallels in the development of TCM across different national contexts, as suggested by Reeve (2004), following a transnational comparative study approach. In the next section, the concept of TCM, first in the British context and then in its different European derivations, is considered. Following this, models of TCM are considered and a matrix containing European TCM schemes is presented. This matrix (after Medway et al., 2006), seeks to elucidate the contribution of various types of schemes (including, for example, informal SME retailer-led schemes) to the future of TCM in the UK and continental Europe. The matrix is utilised, in the following section, to illustrate specific case studies of individual schemes from Italy, Spain, the UK and Austria which were informed by questionnaires translated into four languages and answered by practising town centre managers. The purpose of this is to establish whether it offers a useful and workable tool for academics and practitioners. The final section outlines how TCM might best evolve into the future.

The preceding case studies have shown that the structural matrix of UK urban management is also directly applicable as a tool to classify and analyse TCM schemes across other European settings. The axes of funding sources and the degree of formality are key components of the TCM schemes under study, regardless of location, purpose and degree of retailer involvement. Through the presentation of case study evidence, the variety of definitions and models outlined in this paper suggest that TCM, far from reaching a stage of homogenisation, after more than a quarter of a century of existence; continues to grow in an organic fashion. Rather than passing through defined stages (Warnaby et al., 1998), the structure and resourcing of the partnerships considered here change with time. For example, Cesena now has a not-for-profit limited company structure (a Società Consortile Cooperativa in the Italian legal framework), which is led by a board of trustees elected by members of the scheme. From the cases presented, town centre management remains a “response to competitive pressures” (Wells, 1991, p. 24) or the delivery of local solutions to local problems, whilst, at the same time, being cognisant of the role of global trends in consumer behaviour, trade and the environment (Fernández Güell, 2006). Such trends can challenge the sense of identity of entire cities like Barcelona or Madrid (Luna-Garcia, 2003). The growth of new retailing formats (for instance those located out-of-town or edge-of-town) and changes in consumer behaviour were all common competitive pressures facing our case study schemes. One of the strategic assets of traditional town and city centres is their uniqueness (Charlesworth, 2005 and Landry, 2008). Therefore it is important that TCM schemes promote and develop this asset. There may well be innate dangers in the spread of ‘good practice’ if it serves to standardise the activity of TCM. We believe the matrix shown in Fig. 2 is a useful tool in promoting analysis and reflection. Rather than adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach, it allows for a more nuanced approach to TCM scheme development. Whether TCM schemes can evolve to tackle the competitive pressures of tomorrow remains to be seen. Issues such as climate change (Betsill and Bulkeley, 2002), the widening gap between rich and poor (Atkinson and Bridge, 2005), human migration (Penninx et al., 2004), and rising levels of obesity (Ellaway et al., 2005) are already affecting European towns and cities. Nevertheless, it is only in Ludlow, one of our four case studies, that one can see any evidence of the TCM scheme attempting to widen its remit into issues such as improving quality of life and addressing environmental issues. In his review of TCM in the UK, Reeve (2004, p. 137) commented that “retail interest has tended to dominate many schemes” and the TCM schemes in Cesena, Terrassa, and Salzburg are certainly focussed upon activities of benefit to the retail sector. Nevertheless, there are wider benefits to other stakeholders, such as, for example, the regeneration and maintenance of an historic area as apparent in the protection of local Catalan heritage in Terrassa (see also Otsuka and Reeve, 2007b). It should also be noted that this article is limited to the experience of four centres. There are other published accounts that describe the societal benefits of other retail-led or focussed TCM schemes (for example, the case of Granollers as documented by Coca-Stefaniak et al., 2005). This demonstrates the value of adopting a case-study approach when researching TCM. An analysis of the distinguishing elements of each situation, and comparison with a wide range of case study examples, may help to find the best town centre solutions. “Asking the question, what is good TCM? requires research capable of capturing long-term achievements and trends, and comparing places with one another” (Reeve, 2004, p. 146). In the future, the question of what makes good place management may be more apt, as, internationally, there are a number of other approaches to the management of urban areas, such as Business Improvement Districts, Community Business Centres, Neighbourhood Renewal Schemes, Suburban Centre Improvement Schemes, Mainstreet Programmes, Market Town Inititatives, Business Area Improvement schemes and Trade Improvement Zones. In addition, to these more ‘formal’ schemes, there are likely to be hundreds of thousands of informal and voluntary groups, across the world trying to make places better. For example, Keep Australia Beautiful has been presenting its ‘Tidy Town’ Awards for 40 years. What started as an award for environmental cleanliness has now expanded in scope to recognise community sustainability, environmental stewardship, heritage protection and uniqueness. Conceptually, it might well be the case that the time has come for TCM to reinvigorate itself by continuing (or in some cases, starting) to look outwards rather than inwards and learn from developments in place management (Stuart-Weeks, 1998 and Walsh, 2001). Far from being a break-away philosophy of how to manage towns and cities, place management shares common roots with TCM, although it tends to have more flexibility in terms of the area that it can be implemented in. Places can be as big or as small as their inhabitants define them (Hull et al., 1994 and Jorgensen and Stedman, 2006), because the boundaries of these areas are often set by inhabitants themselves rather than by a public body or institution. This flexibility, driven by the direct empowerment of the communities that reside in a given locale (Boyce, 2000), has often resulted in place management models being particularly successful at managing the needs of disadvantaged groups in both rural and urban environments. Indeed, the organic modularisation of areas offered by place management, where the boundaries of a place can grow or shrink to reflect the feelings and needs of its stakeholders, would appear to be one of its key contributions to delivering services to those that live or work in those locations, or visit them. The inherent flexibility afforded by place management, both philosophically and in practical terms, would not only allow TCM to offer better value to its stakeholders but, just as importantly, it would encourage a larger degree of cross-pollination of the profession from other fields such as shopping centre management, neighbourhood management, community planning, social entrepreneurship, tourism, marketing, retailing and local government. Crucially, through its emphasis on engendering a sense of belonging amongst communities and stakeholders, a place management approach to TCM could encourage greater participation of people (including the young, the elderly, immigrants, and socio-economically disadvantaged groups) in decision-making processes which affect their area and others beyond it. In turn, as boundaries grow with a greater feeling of belonging to regions or countries, rather than just a neighbourhood or town, decision-making would also benefit from a higher level of robustness at regional and national levels as more people understood the consequences of local interventions for the socio-economic fabric of a town’s catchment area and its wider region. The matrix utilised in this paper offers any type of place management scheme, both established and nascent, from any country, a way to analyse the distinguishing elements of their situation and to learn from both similar and different cases. This recognises that TCM is “not a solution which merely needs to be given the right tools” (Reeve, 2004, p. 146). We believe trends in globalisation, which may also affect TCM itself, in terms of homogenising the concept or its definition, should be resisted from within the profession so as to prevent the adoption of ‘me too’ approaches that could ultimately lead to the increased standardisation of places.