Re activation of vacant retail spaces strategies policies and guidelines

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY  POLIMI SPRINGER BRIEFS Luca Tamini Re-activation of Vacant Retail Spaces Strategies, Policies and Guidelines 123 SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology PoliMI SpringerBriefs Editorial Board Barbara Pernici, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Stefano Della Torre, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Bianca M Colosimo, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Tiziano Faravelli, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Roberto Paolucci, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Silvia Piardi, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11159 http://www.polimi.it Luca Tamini Re-activation of Vacant Retail Spaces Strategies, Policies and Guidelines 123 Luca Tamini Department of Architecture and Urban Studies Politecnico di Milano Milan Italy ISSN 2191-530X ISSN 2191-5318 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology ISSN 2282-2577 ISSN 2282-2585 (electronic) PoliMI SpringerBriefs ISBN 978-3-319-70871-3 ISBN 978-3-319-70872-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70872-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017958617 © The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface Retail has undergone deep structural and spatial evolutions throughout the decades, with dramatic and radical consequences in terms of functional concentration, attractiveness, scale and location of stores In the most recent period, these long-standing trends have been further exacerbated by the stunning development of the Internet and related e-commerce practices, together with the effects of more than 10 years of economic crisis Consumer behaviours and retail strategies have changed dramatically, and the evidences of this process are clear: inner-city areas have become less central to people’s lives, the economic impact of traditional businesses is decreasing and shopping malls and big-box stores are also falling into decay Although more advanced in the US, the weakening of urban retail systems—up to desertification—is a widespread phenomenon in many European cities and regions, and Italy makes no exception The formerly dynamic, both urban and suburban, spaces once acting as magnets for a diversified range of activities and user inflows are now dotted with vacant units gradually losing commercial attractiveness The impact of this trend exceeds a sectoral dimension and bears several social and economic costs, in terms of loss of new business opportunities, revenues and employment for both SMEs and local branches of transnational companies Therefore, this issue represents an important factor affecting the quality of life of users and consumers, as well as the vibrancy of local economies Public authorities are asked to tackle this topic and to set up actions and policies meant to revitalize the sector, and, as a result, they must consider the territorial role of trading activities, as well as their relevance for local and regional development In fact, demalling and other actions aimed to face the shrinking of urban retail systems have become a new task for urban planning in those areas where public and private actors need support in their effort to redevelop vacant malls, big-box and high-street stores This study is partially inspired by the outcomes of a research project titled Analisi delle criticità e delle opportunità di sviluppo del fenomeno della dismissione commerciale fini dell’attrattività urbana, developed by the Urb&Com Lab (Department of Architecture and Urban Studies/DAStU, Politecnico di Milano) and supported by Éupolis Lombardia, the Lombardy Region Institute for v vi Preface Research, Statistics and Training.1 The aims of the research are as follows: (i) framing the multidimensional aspects of the problem, and (ii) showing that there are many different approaches to the issue, depending on the socio-economic and institutional context, the nature of the involved actors (private or public) and their specific goals The causes of the weakening of local retail systems are twofold: on the one hand, there are specific conditions for every single case, such as the relationship with the context, the saturation of markets (due to horizontal competition among operators, or to format obsolescence) and the decrease in the offer quality On the other hand, some transversal factors must be taken into account, including the economic crisis and other current global trends, changes in the customers’ behaviours (such as the emerging sharing economy and the decrease of consumption) and competition between formats and among different shopping practices (e.g traditional purchase vs e-commerce) In the first part of this work, all the above-mentioned factors are examined, and the overall investigation perimeter is drawn The book also aims to be an operative tool and a useful contribution to the current debate on how to deal with the issue of reactivating local economies A particular focus is devoted to some international policies, programmes and actions implemented during the last years The first chapter identifies a series of strategies after drawing them from some significant case studies located in France, Spain, UK, Germany and USA The focus on the Italian case, in the second chapter, allows pointing out processes, instruments and methodologies within a set of cases in which the author was involved as a technical consultant to policymakers and institutional actors during the last 10 years These direct experiences have served as a basis for collecting and implementing the tools and proposals for developing public and private strategies aimed at reactivating retail areas (third chapter), with expected positive consequences on the vitality of local economies Indeed, the publication represents a sort of original and innovative handbook for an unexplored field, which brings together economic and spatial elements and which can be used by scholars and students, as well as by technicians and public institutions Milan, Italy Luca Tamini Research Project (March 2015): Attuazione strategie europee 2014/2020: individuazione priorità e linee di azione ed evento di confronto sulle tematiche del commercio tra le Regioni dei Quattro motori Research team: Luca Tamini (coord.), Giorgio Limonta, Mario Paris, Silvia Carena, Agathe Dessuges, Vittoria Rossi, with Luca Zanderighi (Department of Economics, Management, and Quantitative Methods, University of Milan) Contents Re-activation Strategies, Experiences from Europe and USA 1.1 Before the Dismantling: Facing Threats and Weaknesses 1.1.1 French Policies Against Retail Desertification 1.2 During the Process: Supporting, Integrating and Repositioning 1.2.1 The EPARECA Case: The Lucien Sampaix Shopping Mall, Bagnolet 1.3 Demalling: How to Re-activate Big-Boxes and Urban Retail Districts? 1.3.1 Dismantled Big Boxes: Governance and Tools in U.S 1.3.2 The Vital’ Quartier Plan 1.3.3 An Innovative Legal Tool: Taxes on Closed Down Retail Surfaces 1.4 Reflecting on Cases: Strategies, Actors and Proposals 1.4.1 From Case Studies to Policy Innovation Appendix: Planned Centres: Medium and Large Scale Retail Distribution References What Future for Vacant Retail Spaces? Recent Experiences in Italy 2.1 Identifying an Existing and Pervasive Phenomenon: Dimensions, Geographies and Characters 2.2 Re-thinking Urban Retail Systems and Sub-urban Dead Malls: Responsive Strategies for Retail Vacancy 2.2.1 The Reuse of Large Urban Buildings 2.2.2 Transformation of the Medium- and Large-Size Extra-Urban Containers 3 13 22 23 24 29 34 37 37 41 41 52 vii viii Contents 2.3 Recent Experiences: From Practices to an Integrated Methodology 2.3.1 Public Policies Supporting Urban Retail System: Urban Retail District 2.3.2 (Oriented) Policies for Urban Retail Systems Appendix References 59 59 65 72 74 77 77 87 92 Index 95 Re-activating Retail Spaces: A Toolbox for Strategies, Policies and Pilot Projects 3.1 Innovating the Planning, Spatial and Regulative Approaches to Retail Spaces 3.2 Working on Retail, Re-activating the City: A Toolbox for Public and Private Actors References Chapter Re-activation Strategies, Experiences from Europe and USA Abstract The chapter contains a sort of inventory of experiences in which urban and suburban retail weakening is contrasted and the re-activation of its spaces is sought The cases are located in both Europe and the US and vary according to the moment of the process they involve For each case, we introduce the specific situation/context and provide one or two examples that illustrate the ongoing dynamics, and the potential solutions to them Several situations are described, in order to show the variety of approaches and proposals and, secondly, to compare the cases For this purpose, the inventory is followed by a matrix aiming both to relate the different strategies to each other and to point out some innovative ways private operators and public bodies can resort to in order to develop their actions and programs An analysis of international best practices is fundamental to identify suitable active policies designed to control and prevent retail dismantling, in so far as it supplies a wide-ranging overview of such phenomena and offers examples, which can be used as models Local areas are in great need of such work but town planning regulations have not yet codified successful response paradigms The case review should be interpreted in this way and consequently comparison between national and international cases should not be forced, as these are often linked to issues of scale and settlement pattern, as well as cultural and economic contexts which vary widely On the contrary, the established goal is to illustrate the point in the retail desertification process on which it is possible to intervene with measures and policies, as well as the potential outcomes, rather than analysing specific concrete circumstances For this reason, it is also important to introduce the variable “time” and the moment at which each strategy should be applied Some of the collected experiences should take place before the process of dismantling, when the attractiveness of the retail activity is diminishing, like in the cases of refurbishment of urban big-boxes in Germany, developed while the structure is still working Other strategies should be applied when several vacancies dotted the retail systems, like in Vital’quartier (Paris) or Barcelona PECAB Finally, the publication proposes some ideas related © The Author(s) 2018 L Tamini, Re-activation of Vacant Retail Spaces, PoliMI SpringerBriefs, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70872-0_1 3.1 Innovating the Planning, Spatial and Regulative Approaches … 81 active policies of retail services and territorial governance tools, and by the lack of actions and policies on inter-district cooperation, the retail services district associated with urban attractiveness has proven to be an effective tool of active policy in several national and international instances In fact, the main potentialities of a district policy focus on two main aspects In the first place, on enhancing the integrated vocation (commercial, artisanal, cultural, tourist, and providing urban and territorial services) of the area targeted by intervention, and on the opportunity to envision the district as an operational tool of local governance with a view to supporting new policies in favour of urban attractiveness The second asset focuses the possibility of enlarging the profile of district partners capable of consolidating the experience and evolution of district actions by providing a value added, as well as on the role of the urban district as a regulatory subject (e.g public and private accessibility, pedestrianizations, ZTL (limited traffic zones) areas, monitoring of flows, security, opening and closing times of outlets, and others), and on the professional profile of the district Manager as qualitative result of integrated training programs Within this framework of action, the public arena is characterized by the constructive role played by the Regions within the sphere of economic and territorial promotion of the themes of urban attractiveness, as well as by the municipal dimension of expressing active policies (in the interaction between retail, productive activities, tourism, territorial marketing, town planning, mobility, culture), in partnership with the professional associations (retail, supply, food and non-food craft, service craft, medium- and large-sized retail chains), private foundations, consortia of real estate owners, and urban district managers The evolutionary scenario of urban district intensity highly depends on the nature of future evolution of active policies, aimed at a synergistic or confrontational approach between a collaborative or competitive dimension among districts, through a mechanism of public dissemination of qualitative results that guided the actions of districts, and with the ability to make the circuit triggered by virtuous districts Other topics of future orientation may be embodied, for instance, in the moot question of how much and in which manner could the “social” function intersect with the district policies, especially in the more problematical and critical urban areas characterized by less attractiveness (urban suburbs, administrative border settings, low-density territorial contexts), and by which means to accomplish a greater integration between retail and urban and territorial planning policies, also in order to enhance the retail district, as an “investment product” for new economic operators In one of the experiments underway on the issue, in the municipal urban planning tool the urban retail district is classified as an objective of public regulation, through a technical argument associated with the definition of the “imperative motives of general interest”, introduced by the Services in the Internal Market Directive 2006/123/EC, with a perspective of containment of soil consumption and facilitation of urban regeneration processes Within the perimeter of the Bergamo urban district, divided into four polarities essentially corresponding to the ancient formation nuclei, the previously quoted 82 Re-activating Retail Spaces: A Toolbox for Strategies … directive made it possible to allocate a series of urban planning premiums, linked to novel and innovative forms of economic compensation, managed directly by the control room of the district, and focused on some elements of innovation within the following regulatory context: • a redefinition of the settlement weight and the areas for public services through a significant reduction and/or elimination of the obligation to find the minimum endowments of public parking areas and/or parking areas for public use (or of their partial or total monetization) in the instances of functional variation for the settlement of retail activities, of medium- and large-size as well, in the presence of certain conditions of good public and pedestrian accessibility This issue, as already noticed when analysing the case studies of this volume, acquires a strategic character for the reuse of the large divested containers within a central historic context, inasmuch as it represents a concrete opportunity for reviving urban attractiveness compared to the outflows of expenditure towards the extraurban polarities found in many urban contexts; • new models of functional indifference in the changes of intended use on the ground floors with a view onto public space (up to 250 m2), as incentive for the policies of reuse of vacant spaces in the urban fabric,1 enabling the different functions to be located both in the fabrics of the old and modern City, of the consolidated City and in the district polarities, except for the excluded uses (residence and wholesale retail); • introduction of a new urban planning discipline for the settlement of medium-sized retail structures, diversified and linked to the size of the retail surfaces of the medium-size surfaces to be settled in the fabrics of the historic old and modern city, of the consolidated city and in the district polarities, envisaging differentiated provisions of parking areas, and different methods of issuing urban planning-building and retail authorisations, giving preference to the expansion of the existing structures and introducing economic modes of compensating for the impacts (Fig 3.1) towards the urban retail district through the application of authorization criteria Urban centre and retail dismantling Focusing on the issues of retail dismantling and the presence of several vacancies within the consolidated urban tissues, the need emerges to develop suitable skills for perceiving, understanding and mobilizing the existing heritage in urban revival and regeneration processes, in terms of unified coordination, as well as from a viewpoint of the competitive reinforcement of the city A topic tackled with public determination in the recent regional pilot-projects of Lombardy “Fare impresa in franchising in Lombardia” and “STO@ 2020—Successful Shops in Town-centers through Traders, Owners & Arts Alliance”, aimed at granting contributions for innovation interventions in support of the revival of retail activities in urban areas through the recovery of vacant spaces found inside urban districts 3.1 Innovating the Planning, Spatial and Regulative Approaches … 83 Fig 3.1 Municipality of Bergamo, variant to the municipal urban planning tool, July 2017: the polarities of the urban retail district and the urban market Source URB & COM Lab, Politecnico di Milano, The revenue agency (Agenzia delle Entrate), observatory of the real estate market, 2015 In many different urban contexts, we may observe a progressive phenomenon of disuse of a plurality of neighbourhood and supply outlets, of medium and large retail facilities, occasioned by the growing reduction of purchasing power by area users, by saturated conditions of offer, and by the strong territorial competition between distribution formats that has sped up the obsolescence of less recent and already hardly attractive vacant shops In the current phase of pronounced economic crisis, a plurality of urban and central contexts is increasingly characterized by an underestimated phenomenon of progressive disuse of ground floors generated, in the first place, by a lack of district-based distribution of the offer and by the scarcely flexible dynamics of the urban rental market A contribution to these problematic aspects stemmed from the “peripheral” positioning compared to the primary and secondary geographies of the urban offer of retail and supply services and from recent processes of de-localization of important general services within an historical centre context (such as—for example—banking services associated with the professional office context) The weakness of sign protection and the reduction in the attractive and real estate value of non-active shops have additionally had significant collateral effects (e.g a gradual block of the retail real estate market with an increase in the assimilation times and a marked dip in values) hardly manageable without a unified and coordinated strategy 84 Re-activating Retail Spaces: A Toolbox for Strategies … From this perspective, the mapping of the central urban localization opportunities generated by the geography of non-active and disused economic activities, the possibility of new spatial concentrations between small adjoining disused surfaces, the use of a reward system in favour of the central localization of medium-size retail facilities found in some municipal town planning instruments, the birth of new integrated urban formats of offer, the activation of subsidised regional procedures for retail enterprises undergoing a crisis, the existence of a higher endurance and resistance capacity in the more integrated and concentrated urban economic systems compared to the more dispersed ones that are more vulnerable to terminations of business, may all represent concrete planning opportunities on which to focus an integrated intervention policy Within this problematic scenario, the public arena is structured around different roles and objectives expressed, firstly, by the retail businesses undergoing a crisis, by the pulverized system of real estate property and institutional investors, by the Municipalities and by the Region, by the professional associations, by the urban development and promotion companies, by the retail companies with urban protection and brand, down to the chamber system potentially playing a leading role in the process of integrated enhancement of its own real estate assets and by a progressive strengthening of the role played by the real estate sector in monitoring the phenomenon The evolutionary scenarios of the phenomenon are mainly characterized by the activation of demalling urban projects focused on reuse, integration and redevelopment interventions, replacement of containers and surfaces affected by disuse and cessation of business activity, by projects aiming at the revival and repositioning of historical urban galleries, at the creation of urban competition effects between proximity offer areas, at the configuration of new urban retail, service and tourism Districts channelled by the activation of a public/private structure of unified and coordinated management of large, medium and small-size retail vacancies (Christensen 2008; Dunham-Jones and Williamson 2011; Parlette and Cowen 2011; Techentin 2003) An approach to the issue of reuse of divested retail spaces in an urban context is the one that emerged in the guidelines and outcomes of the design contest “for combating retail divestment and reintegrating the fragments of the historic city centre”, promoted at the end of 2015 by the Municipality of Sittard (37.730 inhabitants, January 2011) in Holland (Fig 3.2) The invitation to tender identified retail divestment as an urban problem, one that did not only concern the distribution sector but was understood as a critical spatial issue with a negative impact on the entire city centre context, by creating discontinuity in the system of fronts, and a sense of insecurity and decay for the viability of the historic town centre The aims of the project were ascribable: (a) to the consolidation and reinforcement of the attractiveness of the historic town centre from a perspective of competing with other medium-size cities in the area (such as Maastricht, for example); (b) to the reintegration of the urban fabric, fragmented by large road axes that prevent the continuity of pedestrian flows and, accordingly, limit the perception of the centre as a unified context; (c) to the recovery of existing retail spaces, viewing the centre as a suitable place for hosting economic functions that provide service to the entire city and its inhabitants 3.1 Innovating the Planning, Spatial and Regulative Approaches … 85 Fig 3.2 Comune di Sittard (NL), set foot in Sittard Source http://phidias-cooking.pro/set-foot-insittard-old/ (3rd Prize: “Slow City”, Sgs associati), 2015 Due to the above factors, the participants were solicited to formulate some possible ideas to oppose this phenomenon and to suggest solutions in order to avoid the shutdown of the activities, while simultaneously attempting to recover the ones already divested In the design topics, in fact, they were requested to put forward a series of design visions for the city of Sittard, aimed at tackling the issue of the strong presence of divestments within the historic town centre, framing the possible solutions within a strategic proposal dealing with the historic town centre as a unified system, i.e the integration between retail and mobility policies, where the skills associated with sectoral contexts (mobility, pedestrian areas, parking facilities, etc.) might generate complex designs able to create a coherent system based on the features of the place and its potentialities, integrating with the already existing regeneration projects for the area Retail services as urban centralities Moving from a shared consideration that the project of public city has in several instances remained unfinished, particularly with regard to the design of communal spaces and equipment, the recent design and settlement processes observed across the territories show how the introduction of new elements attracting the flow of users into the weak local offer geography has regenerated the competitive profile of the central and consolidated urban fabric In this sense, the current design and evolutionary context of the new retail formats leans towards the design of places with an integrated and multi-purpose character regenerating important flows of 86 Re-activating Retail Spaces: A Toolbox for Strategies … urban multi-users In some recent projects, we may notice the configuration of new urban centralities redesigning the qualitative vocation of public space (from a place making and place management perspective) and contributing to the gravitational attractiveness of the local set up for purposes of both town planning, settlement and spatial regeneration and competitive repositioning and urban sign protection While, from a viewpoint of entrepreneurial dynamics, structural transformations of the service sector make inroads into the job market, professionalism, social and personal services, across the territory we notice new functional autonomies focused on the offer of services and consumer goods, and characterized by processes of social innovation, associated with the exceptional communal and popular value of attractive containers Retail services retain and amplify a socially unifying function: they are not public city in a narrow sense, but represent places where a plurality of “public life” activities are undertaken, and, in a rich variety of forms, they keep denoting potential and variable “central” spaces in the settlement systems, even when we are dealing with the large extra-urban containers, often new and unique polarities of the diffuse city An in-depth analysis of some recent urban centrality projects enabled a close look at the decisive contribution made by the integrated function of retail to the vitality of several urban areas where the preservation or the introduction of service ensures levels of complexity, structuring and vitality of important segments of the city, whereas the decay of local offer might trigger or aggravate the degradation of entire urbanized areas Exploration of a few key factors and the contextual conditions that have orientated the projects of the new urban centralities (oftentimes closely related to the residential proximity areas, Fig 3.3) has ultimately brought to the fore a marked complementariness between the following compositional and settlement elements: • • • • • spatial integration and urban mix; town planning and architectural quality; settlement regeneration and substitution; public relevance of urban retail services; unified coordination and management of retail aggregates (district intensity) Fig 3.3 Markthal, Rotterdam, 2014: hybridisation of formats of offer and residential uses Source http://www.mvrdv.nl 3.1 Innovating the Planning, Spatial and Regulative Approaches … 87 Integration of retail policies in the territorial governance tools Lastly, as regards the themes of integration, it is essential to make the territorial governance tools (Municipal Town planning documents, building Regulations, sector planning) open to smart and receptive changes compared to the dynamic dimension of the real processes, thereby facilitating an ongoing interaction between instruments and processes as part of a circular learning game One of the main critical areas that has emerged during the critical review of several municipal town Plans in force consists in the restrictive interpretation of the concept of “productive” and the attendant regulation of rezoning, as a result of a lack of synergy between the liberalizing structure of the March 1998 retail reform (essentially calibrated around functional indifference) and the constraints imposed on rezoning by the productive versus other urban functions, which generates potential barriers, at the entry point, to some transformative dynamics involving the city The public arena is defined by the active and planning role of municipal town planning sectors (as structured around its multiple spheres of competence), by the significant presence of technical-operational contributions expressed by the different entrepreneurial associations, the professional associations, the control rooms of the Urban Retail Districts and the Chambers of Commerce (e.g in the promotion of technical training programs for economic operators in conjunction with the Municipalities) As a first conclusion, we deem it proper to reopen the discourse around the role retail services might play—in an integrated and complementary form—in order to build urbanity and urban quality (Lanzani and Tamini 2000) with an attention open to multiple stimulations This means, both for those engaged in research and those who regulate this activity, transcending traditional sector approaches; putting in place methods of observation and analysis of these activities, capable of drawing from a miscellany of investigative forms, thereby lodging them within more general scenarios of urban and economic transformation; recognizing the multiplicity of opportunities offered by the territory and suggesting or building closer links between different interpretative dimensions leaning towards deeper attention for the spatial, settlement and territorial dimension 3.2 Working on Retail, Re-activating the City: A Toolbox for Public and Private Actors In conclusion, in the light of the case studies introduced, and the national and international good practices described in the previous chapters, it is possible to define a “toolbox” which, moving from an integrated cognitive and interpretative background (analysis tools), enables us to steer projects and policies (design tools) within an urban planning and economic-commercial context, aimed at offering some solutions, through the activation of pilot-projects, to the increasingly significant problem of vacant retail premises encountered both in urban centres and in extra-urban contexts 88 Re-activating Retail Spaces: A Toolbox for Strategies … The reform processes orientated towards transcendence of rigid sector regulations—in favour of a recovery of the planning dimension of the retail sector as part of a more general plan of territorial governance—have undoubtedly facilitated the process of modernisation of the distributive system and the development of new forms of retail What has however lacked both at local and regional level is the capacity—of a cultural nature as well—to adapt tools and policies, by giving rise to a new fully-fledged season of retail city planning In most of the instances, “retail” and “city planning” have experienced the retail reforms by contenting themselves with complying with the obligations laid down by the new legislation within a purely administrative logic, often without embarking on innovative common paths that might enable—albeit within the scope of the respective jurisdictions—the development of active policies and new tools Even against the growing phenomenon of divestments and the number of vacant retail premises at urban and extra-urban level, the latter will be increasingly more necessary to govern the processes bound to emerge on the territories as a consequence of the changes underway in retail trade The construction of a “toolbox” presupposes the development of an integrated strategy capable, on the one hand, of directly involving the urban set-up and the spatiality of divested surfaces and, on the other hand, of defining a model of participatory governance able to achieve positive results from the urban regeneration interventions In that regard and in conclusion of the work so far carried out, we propose the following “toolbox” of new commercial city planning of divested retail spaces and containers, in terms both of strategic policies and interventions and of tools and projects 3.2 Working on Retail, Re-activating the City: A Toolbox … 89 A Strategic policies and interventions (software) • Developing agreements with the owners of vacant spaces to define regulated and subsidised rentals during the first months of lease, interest-free loans, the draft of standard contracts aimed at absorbing the market of the divested asset as well as the relationships between lessor and lessee, including the temporary ones; • Promoting partnership with associations to ensure shared projects and partnerships with the sector associations (retail, tourism, services), thereby constructing an inclusive model of local governance; • Involving the different types of stakeholders in the recovery projects and, not disregarding the use of new digital channels, creating awareness in the citizens on the issue of the importance of the reuse of existing vacant spaces for the sake of a correct and effective local action of urban regeneration; • Defining local taxation incentives to activate new retail and craft businesses and new creative and cultural productions, both through significant reductions in the Tari tax (waste tax), stallages and advertising tax, and through changes of intended use on non-onerous ground floors Simultaneously trying out possible increases of taxation on vacant spaces aimed at potentially reducing the divestment times of unused real estate units; • Suggesting alternative approaches to the subjects managing existing private parking spaces for public use for the localisation and the provision of rest area for new retail activities located in the pedestrianized historic town centre and/or limited traffic zones; • Disincentivize vacant spaces through the activation of tenders and public resources capable of incentivizing urban regeneration interventions—especially inside the historic and urban nuclei through the activation of tenders promoting new retail enterprises and services to facilitate the settlement of new economic activities; • Designing training activities to support local entrepreneurs aimed at strengthening knowledge of the dynamics and evolutionary scenarios of retail services and the new urban economies Organization of creative workshops and labs in the sense of initiatives to qualitatively occupy the vacant spaces, integrated also with co-working activities and with business incubators; • Creating a control room: establishment of a working group between public subject and the plurality of private operators, in order to ensure flanking support for reuse and urban regeneration projects and policies; • Organizing public events and local festivals to foster dialogue within and outside the local community 90 Re-activating Retail Spaces: A Toolbox for Strategies … B Projects and tools (hardware) • Fostering sustainable urban mobility through the introduction of limited traffic zones (permanent and temporary, limited freight traffic zones, etc.) in synergy with the policies pertaining to qualitative development of urban and tourist cyclability, which entails interception and permeability of flows; • Development of interventions of progressive pedestrianization of retail routes and public spaces within the urban and historical fabric with a view to incentivizing pedestrian and cycling flows; • Slowing down pedestrian and cycling flows: actions of slowing down fast pedestrian and cycling flows, for the sake of a greater visibility of urban economic activities; • Ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of buildings with interventions of development of the building heritage aimed at improving the architectural context of the urban fabric; • Interventions on the urban environment aimed at improving the quality, the perception and the viability of public spaces within the compact fabric; • Taking care of shop windows in the vacant ground floor promises through lighting, roofing and dimming interventions utilizing methods and materials such as to respect the aesthetic decorum of the building (in conformity with the building Regulations); 3.2 Working on Retail, Re-activating the City: A Toolbox … 91 • Less and bigger unit: Additional urban building rights assigned as a premium to the possibility of building unification of vacant surfaces adjoining the groundfloors with a view to creating an increase in retail and crafts surface and enhancing attractiveness; • Temporary reuse: facilitating new temporary openings for varying periods (1– days, 29 days, 4–6 months); • Attractive and innovative retail formats within well-established urban areas and historic centers: anticipation of urban approaches for the settlement of new medium-size retail structures in vacant urban spaces and containers within a perspective of redevelopment of the context, diversification and complementarity of the offer; • Retail parking spaces, in particular for person with reduced mobility; • Diversification and complementarity of the urban offer, through new forms of proximity retail: definition of design approaches and guidelines for the activation of new commercial services of protection of residential proximity, by using the opportunities generated by any dedicated regional tenders or by additional building rights obtained as premium on the local level 92 Re-activating Retail Spaces: A Toolbox for Strategies … References Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) (2013) Successful town centres developing effective strategies Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, Department for Business Innovation and Skills Augé, M (2015) Un etnologo al bistrot Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore Balducci, A., Fedeli, V., & Curci, F (Eds.) (2017) Post-Metropolitan Territories: Looking for a New Urbanity London and New York: Routledge Boeri, S (2011) L’anticittà Laterza: Roma-Bari Bolocan Goldstein, M (2016) Rapporti territoriali nella grande contrazione Osservazioni sulla regione metropolitana milanese In Camera di Commercio di Milano, Servizio Studi e Statistica (Eds.), Milano produttiva 2016 (pp 131–139) Milano Brenner, N., & Schmid, C (2015) Towards a new epistemology of the urban? City, 19(2–3), 151–182 Bristow, G (2010) Resilient regions: Re-‘place’ing regional competitiveness Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3(1), 153–167 Bruzzese, A., & Tamini, L (2014) Servizi commerciali e produzioni creative Sei itinerari nella Milano che cambia Milano: Bruno Mondadori Bruzzese, A., Gerosa, G., & Tamini, L (2016) Spazio pubblico e attrattività urbana L’Isola e le sue piazze Milano: Bruno Mondadori Calafati, A (Ed.) (2014) Città tra sviluppo e declino Un’agenda urbana per l’Italia Roma: Donzelli Campagnoli, G (2014) Riusiamo l’Italia Da spazi vuoti a start-up culturali e sociali Milano: Gruppo24Ore Campos Venuti, G (2010) In F Oliva (Ed.), Città senza cultura Intervista sull’urbanistica Laterza: Roma-Bari Christensen, J (2008) Big Box Reuse Cambridge: The MIT Press Consonni, G (2007) Prefazione In V Gaglio (Ed.), Commercio e Progetto Urbano Da funzione disgregatrice a legante di una ritrovata urbanità (pp 5–8) Milano: Libreria Clup Cook, I (2009) Private sector involvement in urban governance: The case of business improvement districts and town centre management in England Geoforum, 46(5), 930–940 DCLG (2012) Improving high streets and town centres London: DCLG Dolega, L., & Celinska-Janowicz, D (2015) Retail resilience: A theoretical framework for understanding town centre dynamics, MPRA Paper no 72319 Dunham-Jones, E., & Williamson, J (2011) Retrofitting suburbia: Urban design solutions for redesigning suburbs New Jersey, Hoboken: Wiley Erkip, F., Kizilgun, O., & e Akinci, G M (2014) Retailers’ resilience strategies and their impacts on urban spaces in Turley Cities, 36, 112–120 Fernandes, J., & Chamusca, P (2014) Urban policies, planning and retail resilience Cities, 36, 170–177 Florida, R (2017) The New Urban Crisis New York: Basic Books Gabellini, P (2010) Fare urbanistica Esperienze, comunicazione, memoria Roma: Carocci Gasnier, A (2010) Commerce et ville ou commerce sans la ville? Production urbaine, stratégies entrepreneuriales et politiques territoriales de développement durable Rennes: Presse universitaires de Rennes Gasnier, A (2014) Le commerce dans tous ses états Rennes: Presse universitaires de Rennes Heurkens, E (2014) Private sector-led urban development projects: Management, partnerships & effects in the Netherlands and the UK Delft: Delft University of Technology Press Jackson, C C., & Hughes, C (2015) Death of the high street: Identification, prevention, reinvention Regional Studies, 2(1), 236–255 Jacobs, J (1961) The death and life of Great American Cities New York: Random House Jessen, R., & Lydia Langer, L (2012) Transformations of retailing in Europe after 1945 Farnham: Ashgate References 93 Kärrholm, M (2012) Retailising space Architecture, retail and the territorialisation of public space Sweden: Malmö University, Sweden: Lund University and Farnham: Ashgate Katz, B., & Bradley, J (2013) The metropolitan revolution How cities and metros are fixing our broken politics and fragile economy Washington, D.C.: Brookings institution press Koolhass, R (2006) In G Mastrigli (Ed.), La Città generica In Junkspace Per un ripensamento radicale dello spazio urbano Macerata: Quodlibet Lanzani, A (2015) Città territorio urbanistica tra crisi e contrazione Muovere da qual che c’è, ipotizzando radicali modificazioni Milano: Franco Angeli Lanzani, A., & Tamini, L (2000) Tipologie commerciali e revisione del piano urbanistico Urbanistica, 114, 86–97 Lepik, A., & Bader, V S (2016) World of malls Architectures of consumption Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag Maffei, S., Villari, B, Tamini, L., & Parini, B (2016) Social FOOD CLUB Service e Food Design come abilitatori di nuovi modelli di sviluppo, innovazione e coesione sociale Milano: Macro Editore Moati, P (2011) La Nouvelle Révolution commerciale Editions Odile Jacob Morandi, C (2011) Retail and public policies supporting the attractiveness of Italian town centres: The case of the Milan central districts Urban Design International, 16(3), 227–237 OECD (2009) Regulatory impact analysis: A tool for policy coherence Paris Paris, M., (Ed.) (2018) Making prestigious places How luxury influences the transformation of cities London and New York: Routledge Parlette, V., & Cowen, D (2011) Dead malls: Suburban activism, local spaces, global logistics International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 35, 794–811 Pasqui, G (2017) Urbanistica oggi Piccolo lessico critico Roma: Donzelli Portas, M (2011) The portas review: An independent review into the future of our high streets London: BIS Roca, E., Aquilué, I., & Gomes, R (Eds.) (2015) Walking the city Barcelona as an urban experience Barcelona: Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona Salgueiro, T B., & Erkip, F (2014) Retail planning and urban resilience An introduction to the special issue Cities, 36, 107–111 Santagata, W (2015) Città e produzione di cultura e creatività In Treccani, L’Italia e le sue Regioni L’età repubblicana Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Secchi, B (2013) La città dei ricchi e la città dei poveri Laterza: Roma-Bari Simmie, J., & Martin, R (2010) The economic resilience of regions: Towards an evolutionary approach Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3(1), 27–43 Tamini, L (2011) Il progetto di centralità La regolazione urbanistica degli aggregati commerciali Rimini: Maggioli Taylor, P (2013) Extraordinary cities Millennia of moral syndromes, world system and city/state relations Cheltenham: Elgar Techentin, W (2003) Retail mallaise: Resuscitating dead malls Lotus International, 118, 26–29 UN Habitat (2010) State of the world’s cities report New York: UN Habitat Wrigley, N., & Dolega, L (2011) Resilience, fragility, and adaption: New evidence on the performance of UK high streets during global economic crisis and its policy implications Environment and Planning, 43(10), 2337–2363 Zanderighi, L (2004) Commercio urbano e nuovi strumenti di governance, Milano, Il Sole 24 ore Index A Accessibility, 5, 10, 13, 46, 51, 52, 55, 56, 62–64, 79, 81, 82 Active policies, 1, 25, 64, 65, 79–81, 88 Actors, 15–17, 23, 24, 28, 29, 56 Assessment, 43, 63, 78 Authorization, 44, 46, 55, 82 E Economic, 1, 3, 5, 7–10, 12, 13, 23–27, 29, 39, 40, 43, 45, 47, 50, 56, 58–61, 64, 66–68, 74, 77–84, 87, 89, 90 B Big boxes, 2, 5, 11, 25 Building, 3–7, 9–12, 16, 18, 24–26, 28–32, 34, 40–44, 46, 49–54, 56–59, 64, 65, 68, 72–74, 82, 87, 90, 91 G Geography, 70, 77, 84, 85 Governance, 21, 23, 45, 59, 61, 64, 70, 77, 78, 80, 81, 87–89 C Case studies, 2, 9, 11, 12, 24–26, 82, 87 Centrality, 52, 79, 86 City, 2, 11, 13, 14, 16–19, 22, 23, 25, 33, 38, 40, 41, 43, 58, 63–65, 69, 70, 79, 80, 82, 84–88 Community, 12, 21, 27, 28, 31, 51, 64, 73, 79, 80, 89 Competitive, 5, 10, 39, 63, 79–82, 85, 86 Consumption, 7, 10, 11, 25, 28, 40, 80, 81 D Dead mall, 77 Decision-making, 8, 51, 56, 64 Demalling, 2, 9, 12, 23, 24, 52–54, 56, 84 Desertification, 24, 29, 38 Design, 11, 18, 30, 42–45, 47–50, 53, 54, 57, 58, 65, 67, 79, 80, 84, 85, 91 Dismantling, 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 23, 29–33 Districts, 3, 14, 16, 17, 19, 26, 28, 60–63, 80–82, 84, 87 F Formats, 26, 32, 62, 83–86, 91 I Innovation, 27, 29–33, 44, 53, 59, 60, 63, 72–74, 78, 82, 86 L Landscape, 10, 41, 50, 51, 59, 73 Large scale, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 23, 31 Localisation, 9, 44–46, 56, 67, 72, 73, 77, 89 M Market, 2, 7, 8, 12, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 38, 46–49, 56, 58, 64, 71, 73, 74, 78, 79, 81, 83, 86, 89 Medium-sized/Medium-size, 45–47, 52–59, 67, 72, 82, 84, 91 Mobility, 41, 44, 46, 64, 72, 77, 81, 85, 90, 91 Municipality, 42–44, 50–52, 54–56, 58, 59, 62, 65, 66, 68, 83, 84 P Partnership, 13, 14, 16, 20, 28, 47, 60, 61, 63, 81 © The Author(s) 2018 L Tamini, Re-activation of Vacant Retail Spaces, PoliMI SpringerBriefs, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70872-0 95 96 Index Polarities, 24, 47, 60, 62, 78, 79, 81–83, 86 Policy, 4, 24, 26, 27, 29–33, 63, 72–74, 81, 84 Practices, 1, 23, 65, 69, 70, 78, 79, 87 Proximity services, 79, 80 Public policies, 2, 23, 78 Small scale, 15, 23 Stakeholders, 27, 66, 71 Strategy/Strategies, 1, 19, 23–28, 33, 52, 56, 61, 63, 79, 83, 88 Sustainability, 8, 10, 11, 53, 56, 62, 64, 78 Q Qualitative, 9, 39, 60, 61, 63, 78–81, 86, 90 Quantitative, 4, 10, 64 T Temporary, 12, 46, 65, 66, 68, 69, 71, 89–91 Territory, 3, 38, 39, 44, 55, 56, 58, 59, 62, 64, 70, 78–80, 86, 87 Tools/Toolbox, 2, 3, 13, 24, 25, 28, 31, 38, 59, 67, 78, 80, 81, 87, 88 Town centre, 3, 5, 23, 46, 65–73, 79, 84, 85, 89 Town planning, 1, 3, 9, 10, 13, 16, 23, 30, 31, 33, 61, 64, 73, 80, 81, 84, 86, 87 Transformation, 11, 21, 23, 25, 30, 31, 47, 55, 56, 80, 87 Transport, 5, 8, 10, 31, 44, 46, 64 R Regeneration, 23, 25, 27–29, 31, 64, 71, 80, 82, 85, 86 Regulation/Regulatory, 9, 10, 30, 31, 33, 41, 46, 60, 61, 64, 73, 74, 77–79, 81, 82, 87 Retail desertification, 1–3, 13–15, 19, 25, 31 Retail dismantling, 1, 6, 11–14, 82 Retail spaces, 2, 11, 34, 68, 70, 84, 88 Retail structures, 23, 45, 46, 52, 56, 57, 66, 72, 82, 91 Reuse, 11, 41, 42, 45–48, 50–53, 56, 57, 59, 64–66, 68–70, 72, 79, 80, 82, 84, 89, 91 Revitalisation, 60 S Services, 5, 8, 9, 15, 19, 21, 28, 31, 34, 40, 43, 46–50, 52, 60–65, 73, 77–79, 81–83, 86, 87, 89, 91 Shopkeepers, 2, 9, 16–19, 21, 25–28, 33, 34 Shopping mall, 2, 5, 6, 22, 23, 29, 31 Skills, 70, 80, 82, 85 U Urban planning, 41, 43–46, 56, 73, 77–79, 81–83, 87 Urban regeneration, 2, 33, 44, 70–72, 81, 88, 89 Urban retail district, 82, 83 Urban retail system, 14, 23 Users, 12, 20, 50, 53, 63, 83, 85, 86 V Vacant, 9, 12, 15–20, 25–29, 32, 34, 38–40, 62, 64–72, 82, 83, 87–91 ... buying and operations during the programme, and therefore it requires rents, which are often higher than market rates; • the services and help offered to shopkeepers are generally not free of charge;... area; • medium and large retail shop density in the area of reference; • the potential effect of the project on the retail and craftsman fabric of the urban agglomerations in the proximity of. .. hosts, there are still a great many vacant spaces However, the recurring absence of an overall co-ordination plan for this type of re- use of the whole or part of its indoor spaces, in terms of functions