Building new models for the economic revitalization of central urban areas
Decline or loss of attractiveness of central urban areas is a common challenge of the 'Urbe Viva' partnership. Decline is related to a variety of economic and social factors, the most visible being an inflation of suburban shopping centres. To address this issue, it is necessary to adopt integrated approaches, as tested in countries such as the UK, Sweden, Belgium or France. Such approaches aim to harmonize structural, economic, environmental and cultural interventions into one coherent policy including customized solutions for town-center management of the affected areas and establish professional public/private bodies responsible for coordinating their implementation. The Urbe Viva network aims to increase awareness of public authorities at local, regional and national level on possibilities to improve the effectiveness of economic urban development. More specifically, the operation aims at developing a method to analyze urban areas, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and identify appropriate measures to counteractthe decline of central urban areas and create steady public/private partnerships and forms of “negotiated” and “participated” town planning. The operation raises awareness and knowledge about effective strategies and tools for urban development, in particular as regards town-center management and methodologies for ex-ante and ex-post evaluation of urban development instruments and policies. It supports the creation of public/private partnerships and forms of “negotiated” and “participated” town planning in the participating urban areas. Activities include analyzing partners' experiences and collecting international best practices, developing joint methods for analyzing partner areas and elaborating operative tailor-made models of coordinated urban management.