Changing public space

Discussions during the focus group meetings with the advisory team suggested that the role of
aldermen of spatial planning in redevelopment projects is influenced by their political affiliation.
Without exception, the aldermen were members of the Dutch labour party (Partij van de Arbeid,
PvdA). Although this finding might be coincidental and should be investigated with respect to
a larger number of redevelopment projects, one private-sector representative confirmed that his
organisation prefers to co-operate with labour aldermen as they make good plans in a fast pace.
The alderman can thus play a significant role in the redevelopment process, but what are
his main objectives? Lenzholzer (2005) states that implementing redevelopment projects is a
good way of obtaining votes within the Dutch local election period of four years. An upgraded
city centre serves as business card and increases the possibility of the responsible politicians to
become re-elected. An informant believed that creating goodwill among the local population is
indeed one of the motives of politicians to redevelop public space. He based his argumentation
on Rotterdam, where the local government lately focused on creating clean and safe public space
rather than (re)developing showcases like the Schouwburgplein and Beurstraverse in the 1990s:
Chances are high that the attention for showcase projects will grow in the coming election
period. The ‘Fortuyn’ [populist politician who was assassinated in 2002] aldermen want to
leave something behind after four years of merely creating clean and safe public space.
They already posed the idea: “wouldn’t be nice if my period in office would (instead of a
project) at least lead to a visionary plan for the future?” (Private-sector representative II)
However, most of the interviewed informants countered this idea and stated that the responsible
aldermen were mainly committed to improving the urban structure of the city rather than
creating goodwill for themselves or their party among the local population.
8.2.2 Role and objectives of the private sector
In Section 7.6 the conclusion was drawn that retail is an important, if not compulsory
precondition for the private sector to become involved in the redevelopment of public space.
The real estate literature emphasises that the main motive for developers and investors to engage
in urban redevelopment is the achievement of high returns on investment (Section 4.4.2).
According to the European Shopping Centre Digest (CB Richard Ellis/IPD, 2006) retail is the
best performing real estate sector in Europe. The preference to participate in the redevelopment
of retail squares can thus be linked to the higher return on investment in comparison to cultural,
café, or residential squares. The private-sector representatives generally confirmed this:
Developers and investors prefer to lease out to retail rather than cafés or restaurants,
because the rent of a shop is generally higher. Plus cafés and restaurants are more
vulnerable, because you are very dependent on the manager. A large part of the shops,
on the other hand, are franchise or chain stores, which makes it easier to appraise. Most
developers active in city centres develop combinations of shops, housing and parking,
maybe some offices too. (Private-sector representative III)
In general, the willingness of the private sector to co-operate in public space redevelopment
increases when it involves the construction of new commercial buildings:
That’s a very important difference: a square where no large-scale investment in real estate
occurs, where no real property development takes place, will have difficulties generating
money from the market. However, when property development occurs, there’s all of a
sudden a large bag of money. Then there is always some capital available for the design of
public space. (Private-sector representative II)
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