Self-organisation and retail-led regeneration: A new territorial governance within the Italian context

Abstract

Retail activities and cities are closely related. The practices of retail-led regeneration can thus bring real benefits to the quality of urban life and play a key role in the construction of self-organised and bottom-up initiatives. It seems essential, therefore, that there be the involvement of all the actors working within various capacities in urban areas and who have a legitimate interest in the construction of integrated and efficient urban policies. For example, the Business Improvement Districtswidely used in the US and the UK -are forms of voluntary management for the development of competitive strategies in view of the revitalisation of urban retail developments authorised by the government but promoted and managed by private operators. On the basis of international experience, Italy has also begun to introduce the idea of new instruments for territorial governance within regional trade legislation. These are promoted by the government and managed by non-state actors for the integrated management of business in relation to urban revitalisation. From this perspective, the paper describes the Italian model for the voluntary management of retail activities by outlining the importance of self-organisation and private sector for the promotion of territories and the real contribution that retail can make to local development and urban regeneration.

Elucidating the changing roles of civil society in urban sustainability transitions

“…Some civil society organizations operate as servicing social needs within communities that have been neglected-or even abandoned-by the state or, the market [1,3,4,5,6,7,19,23,26,37,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70]. They establish selfhelp dynamics [43,59,] and are part of the awakening social order that is able to have an "expanded sense of self" (following the new values of an aware and engaged citizenry by [26] and explore new social relations and new practices, as social innovation analysis in the TRANSIT project reflects.…”

Strategic alliances in a town centre: stakeholders' perceived importance of the property owners

“…Aparicio de Castro and Zorilla Calvo 2012; Coca-Stefaniak et al 2009;Riviezzo, de Nisco, and Napolitano 2009;Peel 2003), business improvement districts (BIDs) (e.g. Brunetta and Caldarice 2014;Peel, Lloyd, and Lord 2009;Blackwell 2008), and/or place management and place marketing (e.g. Eshuis, Klijn, and Braun 2014;Kotler, Haider, and Rein 1993).…”

Retail Planning for Regional Development: The Design of Resilient Scenarios in Trentino (Italy)

“…Traditionally, retail, along with infrastructures to which it is intrinsically linked, contributes to delineate spatial planning defining the perception of historical centers and suburban areas creating, in some cases, new amenities, shopping and amusements. In this perspective, the role of retail development is recognized as substantial in supporting urban regeneration [6,14]. Retail, then, turns out to be an element that can support the project of urban regeneration in the VCs, not only from a purely economic point of view, but also from a social and territorial standpoint by providing jobs, services, investment and a focal point for community activities.…”

“…Basically, the Italian retail reform takes on two main components. The first is the modernization of retail sector, which allowed the growth of new large-scale stores and an increasing trend of innovation among retailing groups [5], while the second is a strong territorial-based argument that entails the integration of retail development with environment, respecting attractiveness and the balance among different retail sites [6]. In this perspective, the effort of this approach to retail development is not a simple competitive relationship between retail stores, but rather a complementary relationship among retail territorial systems [7].…”