The value added by better urban design has for some time been contested. Nevertheless, the bene ts of identifying a linkage between better urban design and enhanced economic value, as well as social and environmental value, are potentially signi cant. This article reports on one part of a recent research study that attempted to explore this linkage. It examines a review of stakeholder views on value and urban design on the basis of six case studies of varying urban design quality. The research method and case studies are brie y outlined, before the detailed views of key stakeholders-investors, developers, designers, occupiers, local authorities and everyday users-are presented and conclusions drawn. A key nding is that the bene ts of better urban design are increasingly acknowledged across all key stakeholder groups, albeit in different ways and forms.
During the last two decades the literature on public space has registered the emergence of alternative forms of pubic space provision that depart from the traditional model of direct state ownership and management. The picture that emerges is a complex one, not so much one of privatization, but instead one of complex redistribution of roles, rights and responsibilities in public space governance to a range of social actors beyond the state. This paper discusses an approach to understanding the forms of publicness implicit in alternative forms of public space governance. Issues of rights, access, accountability and control could be examined in public space governance arrangements based on contracts, legal agreements and performance management mechanisms involving private and voluntary entities instead of the traditional public sector processes of policy delivery and accountability. The paper proposes a framework for investigating how 'publicness' is constructed and maintained through these arrangements.
This article discusses the concept of public space management and its evolution in a context of wider changes to urban governance. Public space management is taken as a sphere of urban governance in which conflicting societal demands on, and aspirations for, public space are interpreted through a set of processes and practices. Four interlinked dimensions for public space management are proposed: the co-ordination of interventions; the regulation of uses and conflicts between uses; the definition and deployment of maintenance routines; and investment in public spaces and their services. Within this conceptual framework, the paper looks at recent changes in public space management in England to suggest the emergence of alternative models of management. These are based on the roles ascribed to the state, to private agents and to user organisations, and on different approaches to dealing with the four management dimensions. Although the discussion shows that these models are more than just abstract formulations, and have been used to deal with a variety of public space problems, an important purpose for the paper is to provide an analytical framework through which to examine emergent practices in the management of public space and their potential consequences.public space management, UK public space, privatisation of public space, public space governance, public space services, parks management,
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