Place Management

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Place Management Place management is the process of making places better. This is practiced through programmes to improve a location or to maintain an already attained desired standard of operation. Place management can be undertaken by private, public or voluntary organisations or a mixture of each. Despite the wide variety of place management initiatives the underlying common factor is usually a desire to maximise the effectiveness of a location for its users, whether they are residents, shoppers, tourists, investors, property developers or business owners. [edit] Overview Place management is defined by the Institute of Place Management as "a coordinated, area-based, multi-stakeholder approach to improve locations, harnessing the skills, experiences and resources of those in the private, public and voluntary sectors".[1] However, as a conceptual field it remains relatively underdeveloped because of its infancy. [edit] Defining ‘Place’ Place as a concept can be defined from a number of perspectives. Geography appears to have the greatest claim on the study of place with the Royal Geographical Society defining geography as the ‘“the study of the earth’s landscapes, peoples, places and environments”[2]. The study of place does not however, belong exclusively to field of geography. According to Parker the production of place knowledge can also take place within sociology, psychology, general business and management, retailing, architecture, marketing, political science, public administration, construction, anthropology, urban planning, property management and investment, mining, economics, food, tourism & leisure, health, education, and criminology.[3] Arturo Escobar has defined place as “the experience of a specific location which involves a certain level of belonging, boundaries and connections to one’s everyday life, even when its identity may be created and seldom fixed in time” [4] Regardless of the conceptual approach taken to arrive at a definition, a place in practical terms, which is relevant to the focus of place management initiatives, may include: Cities or city centres Towns or town centres Neighbourhoods District centres Villages Business improvement districts/ areas/ zones Business revitalization zones Community improvement districts Industrial estates Business parks Out-of-town retail & entertainment centres Leisure and tourism destinations Parks & open spaces [edit] Defining Management Although this definition is not accepted uncritically, management is sometimes referred to as the planning, organizing, resourcing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Management can also refer to the person or people who perform the act(s) of management. Despite a traditional association with commercial operations, the practice of management is widely accepted to take place in publicly funded and voluntary organisations, making it applicable to place management initiatives.

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