FROM PADDY FIELDS TO SUSTAINABLE TOWN IN FOUR DECADES: TIGHT INTEGRATION OF URBAN PLANNING AND PLACE MANAGEMENT IN YUKARIGAOKA, JAPAN

Private real estate developers disproportionately focus on spatial planning and short-term returns, often forgetting the crucial role played by place management toward the achievement of sustainable communities. This research presents an alternative model of privately initiated urban development: Yukarigaoka, a new town in the eastern outskirts of Tokyo founded in the late 1970s. The case study has been analyzed through field research, assessments of local media, interviews and literature review, focusing on urban planning strategies and place management practices. Yukarigaoka is a non-speculative model entailing the developer’s long-term commitment to the creation of a community sustained by unique planning features and innovative, award-winning place management practices. As a result, the development avoided the demographic imbalance of many Japanese public new towns of the same period. Population has been constantly growing and the town has been attracting families, strengthening local engagement and a defined identity. Despite a degree of paternalism in approach and the mediocre design quality of the built environment, Yukarigaoka confirms that livable communities result from the tight integration of planning and management. It provides an important planning and management precedent for new and existing communities in other Asia-Pacific cities toward establishing a synergistic relationship between built and natural components and in advocating for long-term profit different from a predominantly neoliberal developmental model that maximizes immediate returns.

Places of Phygital Shopping Experiences? The New Supply Frontier of Business Improvement Districts in the Digital Age

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have flourished as local governance structures to foster the vitality and viability of traditional shopping districts that have struggled to adapt to retail changes. This paper examines the evolution of placemaking activities that former UK government-funded pilot BIDs have delivered over the last 15 years. Drawing on an exploratory sequential research design that combines a qualitative and quantitative thematic analysis of 72 BIDs’ business plans, the findings suggest that UK BIDs have described a non-hierarchical operational framework as services providers considering that: (i) elementary placemaking services, such as ‘clean, green and safe’, have regained thematic relevance due to recent environmental sustainability concerns; (ii) higher-tier lobbying and advocacy services have been an operational priority since BIDs’ inception; (iii) while consumer and place marketing/branding services have seen continual thematic reductions, digital presence and marketing services have emerged as a new category of operational activities. These results extend place management and BID-related literature by discussing the growing role that digital marketing services may perform in the management of town centers and high streets and are relevant to practitioners as it discusses how place management organizations should reposition their operational strategies towards the creation of places of phygital shopping experiences.

The influence of place attachment on community leadership and place management

Purpose This paper aims to draw on Seamon’s(2012a, 2012b, 2014, 2015, 2018) theories on the “processes of place attachment” to understand the influence of place attachment on community leadership and the management of four towns in the Barossa region of South Australia. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology combines photo-elicitation, participant observation and in-depth interviews with 12 community leaders across four town groups. Scannell and Gifford’s(2010) tripartite model for place attachment is used to segment qualitative interview data to understand the nature of place attachment of community leaders. This was followed by thematic analysis using Seamon’s(2012a, 2014, 2018) six processes of place attachment to understand how the dynamics of place attachment as a series of processes interact to influence community leadership and place-based action. Findings The research revealed that community leaders in the Barossa region regularly confront a tension between the “Being” and “Becoming” of Place. It also suggests that place attachment for new residents is accelerated by engaging multiple place attachment processes; these can be measured using the research methodology in this study. The result is a tipping point where place leadership from new residents can accelerate towards the “Being of Place” showing a tendency towards protectionist behaviour commonly seen amongst long-term residents. Research limitations/implications Testing the findings in this paper in other rural regions and other cultural contexts will add further insight and validation of these findings. It is recommended that future research could further develop this approach through engaging multiple place-based community groups in the same town and across different locations to understand the pattern language of communities with more accuracy. Practical implications This study has enabled a deeper understanding of place-based community groups and their motivations to protect the status quo or promote change in the development and management of the place. Each community requires a tailored approach to place management and development to activate community resources and partnerships successfully. This research also provides knowledge on how to accelerate place attachment for new residents to improve their sense of belonging, value and purpose by engaging programs that engage all six place attachment processes. Social implications The research reveals that place relations are dynamic, complex and often political. Rural towns display a pattern language for how they engage networks and resources that government needs to understand to engage community stewardship of place – its social, environmental and economic setting. This research offers a method to better understand the pattern language of place attachment that drives community leadership and place management to help communities sustain themselves and adapt to change. Originality/value The research explores the inter-relationship between the place attachment of community leaders and their response to change from different types of community impacts such as bushfires or the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding these processes is valuable in informing place management partnerships between community, business and government.

Pre-event competitiveness: exploring residents’ perceptions of place management and local impacts

Purpose There is a need to rethink destination competitiveness research, which tends to overlook local impacts of events and new developments. Conducting pre-event research challenges researchers to move beyond analyzing competitiveness as an end (concerning strategy, tangible outcomes, economic deliverables and value for visitors) to assessing competitiveness as a beginning (through perceptions of place management and local impacts). Design/methodology/approach Survey research with local residents explores competitiveness pertinent to perceptions of place management and local impacts. Participation, enthusiasm and information availability are independent variables to assess whether statistically significant differences exist among residents’ perceptions. In total, 454 surveys were collected; the analysis involved exploratory factor analysis and t-test. Findings Factor analysis revealed two factors for place management (organizational competencies; managing awareness) and local impacts (awareness of social benefits; local interest and support). Enthusiasm and information availability have stronger influences on residents’ perceptions than participation in pre-event activities. Practical implications More emphasis needs put on ensuring information availability promotes enthusiasm, to help encourage participation. These three variables are a necessary basis for exploring residents’ pre-event perceptions – a key starting point to guide decision-making through later stages of an event life-cycle. Originality/value Events and competitiveness studies focusing specifically on information availability and enthusiasm of residents is little-explored. By exploring these variables and extending insight on participation, this paper contributes to the literature by assessing pre-event resident perceptions of place management and local impacts (with data collected as event developments were being realized).

Cyber Place Management and Crime Prevention: The Effectiveness of Cybersecurity Awareness Training Against Phishing Attacks

Criminologists and crime prevention practitioners recognize the importance of geographical places to crime activities and the role that place managers might play in effectively preventing crime. Indeed, over the past several decades, a large body of work has highlighted the tendency for crime to concentrate across an assortment of geographic areas, where place management tends to be absent or weak. Nevertheless, there has been a paucity of research evaluating place management strategies and cybercrime within the virtual domain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of place management techniques on reducing cybercrime incidents in an online setting. Using data derived from the information technology division of a large urban research university in the United States, this study evaluated the impact of an anti-phishing training program delivered to employees that sought to increase awareness and understanding of methods to better protect their “virtual places” from cybercrimes. Findings are discussed within the context of the broader crime and place literature.

COVID-19 as a super crisis: implications for place management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate COVID-19 as a super crisis in the design and management of places. Design/methodology/approach This theory-driven work outlines why and how, by treating COVID-19 as a super crisis, the immunological view rises in priority and swiftly ushers in short- and long-term implications for space design and place management. Findings First, this paper looks at the short-term impact of COVID-19 upon space and place management in addressing how porous bubbling, stippling and flexible curtaining respond to immediate retrofitting needs during the pandemic. Using the concept of COVID-19-induced collective trauma, this paper draws attention to health-care facilities, schools, workplaces, commercial buildings and public outdoor spaces. These sites require short-term improvisation in place and space design and will, where the collective trauma of COVID-19 leaves strong traces, require long-term redesign and rethinking. Social implications As a super crisis, COVID-19 generates contradictions in the existing trend in space and place studies from the notion of space and place as a container to one focusing on “flow.” A focus on flow highlights a focus on space and place as adaptable to changes in flow, especially as augmented and mediated by technology. Originality/value This treatment of COVID-19 as a super crisis is intended to stimulate the design and management of spaces and places in the post-COVID-19 period.