CiviIization and the City

Throughout civilization, city and town centers have played important roles as meeting places for people, a place where people of all backgrounds can come together to exchange information and ideas and goods and services.

While the city historically was primarily a place of commerce and exchange, the city today has taken on an important role as a center for arts, leisure and culture. Urban life provides an outlet for individual expression and a tolerance of diverse cultures and lifestyles. The city is therefore by nature dynamic and evolving, and at the cutting edge of change within society. Because of these forces, it is also a place where competing needs and interests are expressed, and where diverse sectors of the community strive to have their needs met.

 

Purpose of City Management

It is within the context of enhancing the vitality of city and town centers, and balancing competing needs and interests, that the position of City or Town Center Manager was established. In the late 1980s, two leading retailers, Boots and Marks & Spencer, took the lead in promoting the development of this new role--in the United Kingdom. By 1994, there were over 100 town and city center managers around Britain.

While the position varies greatly within each town or city, a common purpose is to improve the quality of the experience for all users of the city center, which typically include residents, office workers and visitors/tourists. As these needs often conflict, the role of the City Center Manager is to create partnerships around key issues and identify solutions to problems in order to meet the needs of these sectors. Depending on the particular issue, this will often involve a dialogue with community residents, retailers, police, city council (members and officers), county council (members and officers), business representatives and civic societies/special interest groups. It is also not uncommon for different departments within a Local Government Authority to have conflicting aims and objectives. Through dialogue, it is possible to develop an agreed purpose and direction to achieve the optimum results.

Articles under this City Center Management topic have been lifted from Chapter 10- City Center Management by Kimberly Paumier, from the book: Investigating Town Planning- Changing Perspectives and Agendas, edited by Clara Greed.