IPM Bulletin archive – May 2015

Rostock (Germany): New Market
Rostock (Germany): New Market

by Simon Quin

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It has been a busy and exciting month for the Institute of Place Management. We launched our new-look website, you can see it here if you have not done so already www.placemanagement.org, we formally launched our new Special Interest Groups, in Place Management, Place Branding, and Place Making, with a fourth, in Responsible Tourism, coming shortly, and we held the 3rd Institute of Place Management Conference in Poznan, Poland. We have also decided to reformat our monthly Bulletin, and this is the first with the new look. It now contains more news, stories and updates, though in shorter format.

We were delighted that the Bulletin is the most used membership service offered by the Institute, according to those of you who responded to our membership survey. Thank you very much for that. We hope, however, that the new, and we believe much improved, website, will make it easier to access many of the other services we offer, including events and Executive Education.

This month we look in more detail at what has been happening with the Institute and list a number of stories from elsewhere that we have found of interest. We would appreciate any comments or ideas.

Simon Quin

 

News from the Institute

Special Interest Groups: For some time now we have been aware that though the profession of place management is broadly based, there are some different aspects to it and at times people want to focus specifically in that area. This has led us to develop the concept of Special Interest Groups and the new website means that they can offer direct services to you. All members of the Institute of Place Management, at whatever level, will be members of the whole of the Institute. You will always be able to access all areas of the website and all information we publish, and we would encourage you to do so. We have no doubt that many place management practitioners, for example, may well be interested in some of the detail we put into the Place Management section of the site, but know that you will also need to understand and at times seek further information on Place Branding, Place Making and Responsible Tourism. You are still free to do so.

Although the website now features information about three of the Special Interest Groups, we have only just started to develop these and we would very much value your input and insight into how they go forward. Please tell us even if you don’t like them. We would be keen to understand your perspective. To encourage your exploration of the areas on the site, you may want to comment on the definition of Place Branding that Ares Kalandides, the Institute Director responsible for leading our work in this area, has put together with Dr Mihalis Kavaratzis, which you can find here: http://placemanagement.org/special-interest-groups/place-branding/what-is/. You may on another hand be interested in reading a summary of some of the papers covered at the recent Association of American Geographers Conference, which Steve Millington, who leads the Institute’s Place Making Special Interest Group, has posted here http://placemanagement.org/special-interest-groups/place-making/conference-reports/. The Place Management section of the website has sections on managing public markets, town and city centres and cities, parks, regions and nations. One aim of this Special Interest Group, which is being led by Simon Quin, is to support and link with international, national and regional associations working to support those managing town and city centres, downtowns and mainstreets. We know of 18 of them, http://placemanagement.org/tcm-directory-a-z-list-of-membership-and-support-organizations/, but suspect there must be more who would wish to be part of this network. Please send us details if you want to be involved.

Conference reports: The 3rd Institute of Place Management Conference took place in Poznan, Poland, from 6th-8th May and was hosted by Poznan University of Economics in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Stockholm. It was a very successful event which drew participants from more than 20 countries. Place Brand Observer said beforehand that “the conference programme…reads like a who is who of place brand researchers” and the fifty plus papers did not disappoint. The format of the conference programme ensured that papers were presented and quickly discussed in the sessions with ample time over breaks to discuss ideas in more detail. If you were not with us in Poznan, or if you were in a parallel stream at the time, the Institute will be posting summary reports from the conference over the next few weeks. You can see the first of these postings here http://placemanagement.org/events/ipm-conference-2015/ and more detailed session reports by following the link in the right hand box on the web page.

There is no doubt that the success of the conference owed much to Dr Magdalena Florek who chaired the event and who, with her colleagues, developed the programme and arranged the social events, notably an excellent cocktail party in Europe’s tallest bar and a delightful Gala Dinner. We would like to express our thanks and appreciation to her and all her colleagues. If you are now regretting you did not attend, then you will have another opportunity next year. If you would be interested in hosting the conference, then please let us know. We have several expressions of interest already and we will be shortly contacting all who are interested to set out what this entails.

New Senior Fellows: The Institute believes that it is important to recognise outstanding achievement in the field of place management, by both academics and practitioners, and we were delighted to recognise five new Senior Fellows at the Conference Gala Dinner in Poznan. Each Senior Fellow is appointed for a five year period. Our five new Senior Fellows are: Dr Magdalena Florek, Jane Jenkins, Dr Mihalis Kavaratzis, Dr Ares Kalandides, and Steve Maras. You can read more about them here: http://placemanagement.org/news/new-senior-fellows-honoured/.

Markets Matter: The Institute published a new report in April that reviewed the literature and used empirical research to identify the importance of public markets. Although the evidence of how markets impact on footfall was drawn from the UK, we believe the report has wider relevance. The importance of markets was emphasised by the 9th International Public Markets Conference held in Barcelona in late March, which attracted some 450 delegates from over 40 countries and which featured lots of good examples of how markets make a difference. You can read about the Institute report and download it from our website. As always, we would appreciate any comments you may have. You can read it here: http://placemanagement.org/news/markets-matter-reviewing-the-evidence-and-detecting-the-market-effect/.

Membership: Now that we are fully integrated into Manchester Metropolitan University, and so again have some great administrative support, a new website, and the Conference is completed for another year, we are reviewing the status of memberships. Many of you will have had your membership extended without our seeking further payment. We now need you to recommence the annual payments. Since we last invoiced you, it is possible that some of you will have worked in the profession or completed further study that will enable you to change the level of your membership. We are keen for you to do so if you now meet the criteria. If you are renewing at the same level, we very much look forward to having you back as a paying member and hope you like the changes that are happening. If you are not engaged professionally in place management but like hearing what we do, then you can register as a Friend of the Institute at no cost and you will continue to receive the Bulletin each month or as a Friend Plus if you wish to access the Journal of Place Management and Development each issue. Don’t forget that we offer a discount rate to students. You can find more information on membership and rates here http://placemanagement.org/membership/membership-levels/.

News from elsewhere

Place Marketing Manifesto: A meeting of experts that took place in Poznan, Poland, in September last year has now published a report that contains valuable insight into place marketing and branding, contributions from each of the experts and useful case studies from around the world. You can read about the report and download it here http://placemanagement.org/news/place-marketing-and-branding-manifesto/.

Inter-regional place branding: A new book edited by Sebastian Zenker and Bjorn P. Jacobsen has been released. With twelve chapters the book does much to address the concerns expressed in the foreword by Erik Braun that interregional place branding has been a neglected area of research. You can see the chapter headings and find out how to buy the book here http://placemanagement.org/news/new-book-on-inter-regional-place-branding/.

New town centre toolkit launched: The Scottish Government has supported the publication of an online toolkit which contains ideas and examples of how people and organisations can make their town centre more attractive, active and accessible. Much of the toolkit will have application well beyond Scotland. You can read more and access it here http://placemanagement.org/news/scotland-launches-town-toolkit/.

In need of urban data? UN-Habitat has now established an online source of data, which allows comparisons between locations to be made, covering 220 countries and 741 cities across 103 indicators. You can explore the data and make comparisons by following the links here http://placemanagement.org/news/un-habitat-releases-urban-data/.

Regenerating Athens: What will announced plans to refurbish some 1800 buildings and undertake public realm improvements in downtown Athens over the next five years do to the feel of the place? Feargus O’Sullivan reflects on the proposals and the likely consequences in this article for Citylab: http://www.citylab.com/politics/2015/04/downtown-athens-isnt-dead-but-revamp/390135/.

And because we care about you as individuals we thought we’d let you know that changing the way you travel to work can have an impact on your health. A 2015 longitudinal study has used a nationally representative data set – the British Household Panel Survey – to examine the impact on Body Mass Index (BMI) of switching between private motor transport and active travel or public transport for the journey to work. Switching from private motor transport to active travel or public transport is associated with a significant reduction in weight. In contrast, switching from active travel or public transport to private motor transport is associated with a significant weight increase. You can see more here http://travelwest.info/project/ee-135-impact-of-changes-in-mode-of-travel-to-work-on-changes-in-body-weight

Don’t forget: Whilst we are delighted that you value the Bulletin, you can get more regular news from the Institute, including stories such as the one on Athens above, by following us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Institute-of-Place-Management/93152409104 or on twitter https://twitter.com/PlaceManagement


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