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In order for town centres to manage increased competition in retailing, co-operation between stakeholders in a strategic alliance has become more important. A typical set of stakeholders in a strategic alliance for strengthening retailingare retailers, local authorities and property owners. The roles of retailer’sand local authorities’ are well researched. However, the role of property owners is not. The aim of this paper seeks to unfold the role of property owners in a strategic alliance. This is a case study of a medium-sized town in which semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders were conducted. In the chosen town there is a TCM alliance co-operation at work. The above mentioned stakeholders are possible members in an alliance. The case studied shows a fragmented property owner market with no dominant property owner, as it is in many medium-sized towns. Our study shows that many stakeholders look at the role of property owners as crucial for town centre development. However, property owners do not see that they can significantly contribute to or benefit from the development.The main reasons for this opinion are that they consider themselves as not having enough resources or the capability to influence the town development.

Retail image has received considerable attention in the academic literature in recent years, its influence on consumer behaviour demonstrated extensively in contexts such as stores, brands, shopping malls and tourist destinations. It is therefore surprising that the study of retail image in a town centre has been neglected. Town centres, since time immemorial existing as markets facilitating the exchange of goods, have throughout history been of significant importance to local and national economies. Yet academic interest in consumers choice of town centres, and particularly their image perceptions of these locations, has only been stimulated in response to competition from the development of purpose-built shopping malls. Research into town centres as distinct locations has been extremely limited. The research reported in this thesis has studied town centre image as a specific retail location. In doing so, the research has also addressed a further limitation in the retail image literature. Researchers have pointed to the limited theoretical development in retail image studies, and particularly to the discrepancy between image conceptualisation and its operationalisation. Image is conceptualised as having both tangible qualities and an aura of psychological attributes (Martineau, 1958), but its measurement has focussed almost exclusively on its physical properties, ignoring the less tangible elements which it is hypothesised to contain. As a consequence of adopting a theoretical approach to town centre image, this research has for the first time developed a model of town centre image which addresses both its tangible and intangible qualities, and which comprises three dimensions: functional, experiential and symbolic. The model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling based on a survey of 816 consumers in three town centres. Analysis of the results suggests that consumers perceive town centre image as a higher order construct consisting of these three dimensions, and that their image perceptions focus on top-level salient aspects of the retail provision, together with feelings, emotions, and subjective attitudes towards the town centre. It is suggested that this conceptualisation provides a more accurate measure of consumer perceptions of town centre image for future academic researchers and for practitioners, particularly as town centres are currently the focus of government policy to support their continuing preservation as important local and national economic drivers.

Diploma thesis analyzes and evaluates the status and change of the functional use of the historic centre of Trutnov in the transformation period 1992-2015. The thesis is focused both on the development of structures and the importance of retail and services of the center, so on the processes that determinate this development. The theoretical part of the thesis is devoted to the issue of the general processes that took place in the socialist city, their impact in the present, and also the processes associated with the postsocialist city or the transformation period. Apart from this issue, it is focused on retail trade and its development in the transformation period in the Czech Republic and the role of public space in the centre. The theoretical framework contents characteristics, the historical development and specifics of the centre of Trutnov and the town as a whole. The empirical part deals with the development of features in the center of Trutnov. The bottom line of the empirical part is an evaluation of the data from the database of the establishments since 1992 by 2015. The empirical part contents data about the number, spatial distribution and specialization of premises for each house within a defined territory. Processes that operate on functions in the center of the town are discussed in...

The aim of this essay is to create an increased understanding within spatial behaviour of how people relate to their surroundings and to strengthen knowledge about the importance of design. This by investigating whether it is possible, through design of the physical environment, to contribute to creating and strengthening a place for people to meet on the countryside. In this report, we will go through some spatial theories about how people perceive space as well as take a closer look at previous research and studies in urban design and environmental psychology. This study will be based in a small community in Burträsk located in Skellefteå municipality and will thus function as a case study based in reality. The results of the study are based on a location analysis to get an idea of the place's physical design as well as a survey to get answers on how people experience the physical environment.

Thesis:The aim of our study is to identify how IKEA's externalestablishment at Norra Backa can affect Kupolen and the centre. This in order to provide suggestions on how these trade areas can be connected and create a whole to thereby gain the purchasing power.Method:In our study we used triangulation. That means we have used both a quantitative and a qualitative approach. The quantitative method based on a survey with 100 respondents. The qualitative method is based on interviews with the centre conductors of Borlänge, Laila G Prosén and Anna Timander.Theory:The theories we have used is STP, substitution effects and effects of overspill, important factors for an attractive market town, Town Centre Management, Urban Retail Product.Conclusion: We found how IKEA's establishment at Norra Backa may affect Kupolen and the center of Borlänge then we gave suggestions on how these trade areas can be connected.

För många ansedda som mindre städer i Sverige, benämnda i den här uppsatsen somsmåstäder, förekommer ett starkt hot i form av externhandeln. Småstad definieras i våruppsats som en till folkmängden mindre ort med karaktäristiska drag av en stad, det finnssåledes en huvudgata i staden och ett utmärkande centrum. Stadskärnor runt om i landet harunder decennier tömts på både organisationer och befolkning i relation till att marknaden harflyttats utanför staden. Detta har bidragit till att stadskärnorna löper stor risk att dö ut. För attreducera denna risk har en stor satsning gjorts på samverkan i flera delar av landet och även isamarbete med Norge. Kommuner har gått samman för att arbeta externt tillsammans medandra städer och internt för att få olika aktörer i stadskärnan att samarbeta med varandra.Tidigare forskning pekar på att samverkan ses som en vital ingrediens för att kunna stärka enstadskärna och det lyfts fram att alla parter som har ett intresse av stadskärnan måstesamverka. Det krävs då att både den offentliga- och privata sektorn ingår i ett samarbetevilket i denna uppsats benämns som ett offentligt-privat partnerskap. I den här studienundersökte vi bland annat samverkans roll i stadskärnors arbete för ökad attraktivitet. Vårtsyfte med studien är att undersöka hur organisationer arbetar för fortsatt överlevnad i enstadskärna. Granskningar gjordes på det arbete som utförts av två stadskärnor i Sverige.Deras tillvägagångssätt studerades för att se hur de har undvikit eller besegrat de hot somcirkulerar. För att uppnå vårt syfte har vi genomfört en kvalitativ studie där vi har granskatoch tolkat det empiriska material vi samlade in genom två djupintervjuer med trerespondenter som arbetar med centrumutveckling i de städer vi granskade. Vår teoretiskareferensram är baserad på vetenskapliga artiklar och presenterar aktuell forskning samtteorier kring centrumutveckling och metoder för att uppnå framgångsrik utveckling. Detempiriska underlaget i studien är baserat på två intervjuer som vi har genomfört med trerespondenter vars yrkesroller är gällande centrumutveckling. En av våra respondenter ärprojektledare och arbetar med projekt inom centrumutveckling, en är näringsutvecklare för enkommun i Sverige och den tredje har en yrkesroll som centrumutvecklare. Den teoretiskareferensramen och empirin är utgångspunkterna för vår analys samt tolkningar. Det är sedanutav detta som vi har kunnat dra slutsatser kring centrumutveckling och dess metoder förframgång. Samverkan är nödvändigt för att en stadskärna ska kunna nå ökad attraktivitet. Detär inte tillräckligt att olika stadskärnor samverkar med varandra för att nå en lyckadcentrumutveckling och ökad attraktionskraft till staden. Det är vitalt att stadskärnornas inresamarbetar med varandra och med det menar vi att stadens egna handlare, fastighetsägare,kommun, politiker, boende, konsumenter, besökare etc. samarbetar mot gemensamma mål.De två mest vitala faktorerna för samverkan som vi kunde avläsa var engagemang och engemensam målbild. Genom studien kan det konstateras att de två faktorerna är avgörande församverkans del i att reducera risken att stadskärnor utarmas. / For a lot of small cities in Sweden, mentioned in this paper as small towns, there is a strongthreat in terms of external trade. Small cities is defined in our essay as a smaller town withthe characteristic features of a city, so there is a main street in the city and a distinguishingcenter. City centers around the country have been emptied for both organizations andpopulations for decades in relation to the fact that the market has moved outside the city. Theresult of that is the fact that the city centers are at high risk of extinction. In order to reducethis risk, a major effort has been made on cooperation in several parts of the country and alsoin cooperation with our neighboring country Norway. Townships has cooperated to workexternally with other cities and internally to get different actors in the city center to cooperatewith each other. Previous research shows that cooperation is seen as a important ingredient instrengthening of a city center, and it is emphasized that all parties that has an interest in thecity center must cooperate. It is then required that both the public and private sector is a partof the cooperation, which in this paper is called a public-private partnership. In this study, weinvestigated the role of united action in city centers work for increased attractiveness. Ourpurpose of the study is to investigate how organizations work for continued survival in a citycenter. Examinations were made on the work carried out by two small towns in Sweden.Their approach was studied to see how they have avoided or defeated the threat that encirclesthem. In order to achieve our purpose we have conducted a qualitative study where we haveexamined and interpreted the empirical material we collected through the two interviews thatwere made with three respondents who work with center development in the cities wereviewed. Our theoretical reference framework is based on scientific articles and presentscurrent research as well as theories about town center management and methods forachieving successful development in city centers. The empirical basis of the study is based onthe two interviews that we have made with respondents in a career in center development.One of our respondents is a project manager and work with projects in center development,one is a business developer for a municipality in Sweden and the third has a professional roleas a center developer. The theoretical reference framework and empiricism are the startingpoints for our analysis and interpretations. It is because of that we have been able to drawconclusions about city center development and its methods of success. Collaboration isnecessary for a city center to achieve increased attractiveness. It is not enough that differentcity centers collaborates with each other in order to achieve successful city centerdevelopment and increased attractiveness to the city. It is vital that the inner core of the citycooperates with each other, and by that we mean that the city's own trader, property owner,municipality, politicians, residents, consumers, visitors, etc., work together towards commongoals. The two most important factors for collaboration that we could read were commitmentand a common goal. Thanks to the study it is clear that the two factors are crucial forcooperation in reducing the risk of urban deaths.

This thesis has been realised through a scholarship offered by the Government of Canada to the Government of the Republic of Mauritius under the Programme Canadien de Bourses de la Francophonie / La mixité d’usage est de plus en plus considérée comme un facteur essentiel au développement durable et à la prospérité des villes, tant par les professionnels en urbanisme, les décideurs politiques et les chercheurs que par tous ceux concernés par la qualité de vie de nos concitoyens. Présentement, on assiste au développement de stratégies et mécanismes en vue de faire cohabiter les diverses fonctions urbaines. Ainsi, cette recherche exploratoire porte sur la mixité d’usage et la possibilité de transférer cette approche, plus particulièrement, dans celui des villes de l’Île Maurice, petit état insulaire en développement. Le principal facteur à l’origine de ce choix est la volonté du gouvernement de mettre en place un métro léger reliant les centres des villes de la conurbation urbaine de l’Île, d’où l’opportunité de réhabiliter ces centres en déclin à travers une plus grande mixité d’usage. Ainsi, deux cas, Quatre Bornes et Rose-Hill sont analysés. La cueillette des données inclut des entrevues avec onze urbanistes locaux, lesquelles permettent de développer le volet public de la problématique et de bien contextualiser les avenues possibles de solution. Nous constatons qu’un laisser-faire, des politiques inappropriés et diverses interventions publiques ont favorisé la congestion routière et l’étalement urbain et entrainé une perte de diversité des usages dans le centre-ville. Nous identifions ainsi les défis et les opportunités relatifs à la mixité d’usage et proposons des stratégies, dans l’optique d’améliorer la viabilité et la vitalité des centres-villes. / Mixed-use is increasingly considered as a key principle for sustainable development and prosperity of cities and towns by planners, decision-makers, researchers and many others concerned with the quality of life of our citizens. As such, we are witnessing new strategies and mechanisms to enable different uses to cohabit. Our thesis explores the transferability of the mixed-use concept in the context of the town centres in Mauritius, a small island developing state. The main reason explaining this choice is the government’s commitment in introducing a light rail transit system linking the town centres of the urban conurbation of the island. Indeed, the opportunity lies in improving the declining health of town centres through mixed-uses. In this context, we analyse two case study areas, Quatre Bornes and Rose-Hill. Our empirical researches include interviews with eleven planners in Mauritius, in an attempt to better grasp the institutional problematic and contextualise relevant solutions. We find out that the laisser-faire situation, unresponsiveness of policies and government interventions on transport and traffic congestion have favoured urban sprawl and led to the lack of diversity in the town centres. In contemplation, we identify the common challenges and opportunities with respect to mixed-use in the two case study areas and propose strategies in view of improving their viability and vitality.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:09:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 2549056 bytes, checksum: c3b77e424764f76c9d5d68849afcd563 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / It was aimed in the present work to investigate the implications of the metamorphosis process in the urban centrality of João Pessoa, capital of Paraíba state, under the point of view of central uses and activities, starting in the 1970s up to present days. In the spatial ambit on which the present work focuses is a central area in João Pessoa. However, it is important to emphasize that references to other sectors of the city will be made, which have become in the last decades new places of the centrality process. The temporal picture, for its turn, follows the transformations that occurred from 1970 to present days, because since those times deep transformations were generated by post-modern paradigms. In fact it is a phase of changes in the intraurban structure of our cities, where selective shopping activities and new way of life emerged under the influences of privileged social classes anxiety in the context of consumerist society. The methodology used here included not only the bibliographical survey performed, whose importance is revealed by the theoretical basis constructed in the present work, but also the analysis of the phenomenon of changes in the centrality, where data and indicators were provided by the Laboratório do Ambiente Urbano e Edificado (Laboratory of Urban and Built Structures Environment) of the Federal University of Paraíba. The main town centre of João Pessoa sprawled predominantly towards the littoral zone along the Avenida Epitácio Pessoa and its surroundings, following the moving tendencies of high profit people. The results obtained here showed that the main town centre of João Pessoa has deteriorated physically with respect to many buildings, and the estate housing dynamics have decreased in relation to new town centres in the city of João Pessoa. However, under the point of view of commercial activities and services available, besides other vital activities for the living process in the area, the traditional town centre of João Pessoa continues to generate profits for the local economy, having the greatest number of licensed activities and a quite expressive amount of money in circulation. Thus, the vitality and urban centrality of João Pessoa town centre, reflected by the great diversity of activities of socio-economical interest is presently clearly evident. / O objetivo principal deste trabalho é investigar as implicações do processo de metamorfose na centralidade urbana de João Pessoa, sob a ótica dos usos e atividades centrais, no período que se inicia na década de 1970 e que se estende até os dias atuais. O âmbito espacial sobre o qual recai o foco do presente trabalho é a área central da cidade de João Pessoa. No entanto, é importante destacar que se farão referências a outros setores da cidade, os quais, nas últimas décadas, transformaram-se em novos redutos de centralidade. O recorte temporal, por sua vez, segue as transformações ocorridas de 1970 aos dias atuais, pois, a partir daquela década, ocorreram profundas transformações advindas dos paradigmas pós-modernos. Trata-se de uma fase de mudanças na estrutura intra-urbana de nossas cidades, onde um comércio seletivo e novos modos de vida surgem, influenciados pelos anseios das classes privilegiadas no contexto da sociedade de consumo. A metodologia utilizada compreende não apenas o levantamento bibliográfico, cuja importância se revela na construção da base teórica deste trabalho, mas também a análise do fenômeno das mudanças de centralidade, utilizando-se dados e indicadores fornecidos por instituições e pelo Laboratório do Ambiente Urbano e Edificado, da UFPB. Na cidade de João Pessoa, o centro principal expandiu-se, de forma predominante, na mesma direção da Avenida Epitácio Pessoa, seguindo o deslocamento das camadas de alta renda para a zona litorânea da cidade. Os resultados permitem concluir que o centro principal da cidade de João Pessoa possui uma decadência física em inúmeros imóveis e uma diminuição na dinâmica imobiliária em relação os novos centros da cidade. Contudo, do ponto de vista de atividades comerciais, de prestação de serviço e outras imprescindíveis para o processo de vitalidade da área, o centro tradicional da cidade de João Pessoa continua a produzir economia, sendo dotado do maior número de atividades licenciadas e de uma expressiva circulação monetária. Portanto, sua vitalidade e centralidade urbanas, que se expressam em uma diversidade de atividades de grande interesse sócio-econômico são, até o presente momento, bastante evidentes.