Improving Governments' Response to Local Communities — is Place Management an Answer?

Abstract

The notion of place management is emerging in public sector discourse as a potential solution to improve governments' responses to issues confronting local communities, particularly those experiencing high levels of economic and social disadvantage. Despite the increased currency of the term, there is a degree of confusion surrounding what it actually means. And it is not always clear what is meant by the notion of ‘place’. This article attempts to clarify a working definition of ‘place management’ and to explore the policy and administrative implications for governments in adopting a place management approach.

Defining place-keeping: The long-term management of public spaces

“…This comes with the caveat that such area-based regeneration can 462 have unsustainable consequences such as a rise in property prices, the displacement of local communities 463 (who may be priced out of the market) and potential gentrification (ibid., Walsh, 2001). Furthermore, 464…”

“…Within the dominant paradigm of sustainability which 437 increasingly underpins policy, research and practice, a conceptual link (albeit as yet not fully tested) has 438 been made between increasing the quality of the physical environment and improving social disadvantage 439 in neighbourhoods (Walsh, 2001). This link is manifested as the Ôarea-based initiativeÕ which has been 440 applied to deprived neighbourhoods throughout Europe (after Carpenter, 2006).…”

Social planning and crime prevention: Some lessons from innovative practices

“…So where many local councils would have stepped up 'zero tolerance' policing, passed ordinances banning certain activities, or removed benches where 'unsuitable' people might congregate (Mitchell 2003), the council adopted aptace management approach to the problem. Place management means a coordinated, community-led ...like social planning, there tends to be a gap in crime prevention between rhetoric and political reality... process that deals with a specific problem in a particular place, where one of the outcomes is redressing significant social and economic disadvantage and improving overall community well-being (Walsh 2001).…”

Promoting place: elevating place‐based discourse and new approaches in local governance in New South Wales

“…Recognising the necessity for greater deliberation Walsh (2001), in the Australian Journal of Public Administration, questioned the rationale of place management as espoused by Mant. This was the first time that any significant debate about the approach had surfaced in the Australian-based journals.…”

“…Yet, whilst this provides an optimistic tenor for delivering strategies for place-making and place management, what Promoting Place 209 limited research exists in the Australian context is more equivocal, noting the need to approach such systems with caution (Jackson & Natoli, 2001;Walsh, 2001Walsh, , 2002Reddel, 2002).…”