Social change through place innovation

Abstract


 
 
 This article explores how ‘place innovation’ can be used as a new scientific concept and practical tool to understand and shape the social design of the future. 
 
 
 
 The article’s starting point is a collaborative project between academia, industry and the community in northern Sweden. The project is developing knowledge and methods of place innovation based on a coherent perspective on the innovative design of places. Place innovation weaves together social, cultural, economic and technological aspects in order to increase the attractiveness of a place to existing and potential visitors, residents and investors.

Place Innovative Synergies for City Center Attractiveness: A Matter of Experiencing Retail and Retailing Experiences

“…Inspired by previous studies on how places are renewed and reinvented in interaction between various processes, components, and actors (e.g., Arefi, 2014;Moulaert & Van den Broeck, 2018;Nyseth & Viken, 2009;Syssner, 2010), the study investigates correlations that boost renewing development paths in terms of 'place innovative synergies'. The study of these synergies draws upon previous studies of 'place innovation', defined as multi-actor processes aspiring to renew, recreate, or redefine cities, destinations, or other types of places (Bernhard et al, 2018;Ericson et al, 2016;Lindberg et al, 2015;Lindberg et al, 2017;Lundh Snis et al, 2017;.…”

“…As a scientific and practical concept, place innovation specifically pinpoints the innovation perspective in place development, since pre-existing concepts of 'place making', 'place branding', 'place management', 'place reinvention', and 'place-based innovation' rarely address innovation per se and, if so, rarely with references to mainstream innovation literature. The concept of place innovation was incrementally elaborated through dialogues between innovation researchers, tourism entrepreneurs, tourism destination organizations, and municipality representatives in Sweden, and has hitherto been applied in empirical studies of Swedish and Norwegian cases (Bernhard et al, 2018;Ericson et al, 2016;Lindberg et al, 2015;Lindberg et al, 2017;Lundh Snis et al, 2017;.…”

“…Place innovation helps pinpoint and enforce innovative interwovenness between a place's specific cultural, social, and geographical identity, on the one hand, and its crucial components of physical configuration (e.g., architecture and design), content (e.g., commercial and public services, events, activities), and communication (e.g., place branding, place marketing) on the other (Lindberg et al, 2015(Lindberg et al, , 2017. It further acknowledges the innovative synchronization of parallel management processes, e.g., spatial planning, destination design, business promotion, cultural development, and social cohesion.…”

“…Place innovation thus enables the identification of innovative ways to interconnect relevant elements and institutions when striving to maintain or improve the attractiveness of a place among existing and potential residents, tourists, investors, and entrepreneurs. The elaboration of place innovation was based on the innovation studies sub-fields of social innovation, userdriven innovation, and service innovation (Lindberg et al, 2015(Lindberg et al, , 2017. Among these, social innovation provides a valuable lens to distinguish innovative reconfigurations of spatialized social relations in territorial development (cf.…”

“…The research is conducted in terms of 'place innovative synergies', defined as correlations that boost renewing development paths in cities, destinations, and other types of places (cf. Bernhard, Olsson, & Lundh Snis, 2018;Ericson, Holmqvist, & Wenngren, 2016;Lindberg, Ericson, Gelter, & Karlberg, 2015;Lindberg, Gelter, & Karlberg, 2017;Lundh Snis, Olsson, & Bernhard, 2017;. Such synergies imply innovative reconfigurations of spatialized social relations, where the concept of social innovation provides valuable perspectives (cf.…”