Changing public space

financial contribution to the design and management of public space. Good communication can
also further increase the awareness of each other’s motives, capabilities, and intersecting interests.
In addition, the local government must find a balance between directing the private sector
too much or too little. International examples show that the private sector is more willing to
invest in public space when it also (partially) controls its development. Curbing the private
sector’s actions too much might hamper its involvement in public-space redevelopment. Not
curbing it enough, on the other hand, might lead to public spaces that only serve a particular
part of the public: the consumers. The local governments of our cases seem to have found this
balance as their city centres have been thoroughly upgraded with support of the private sector
but without the large-scale exclusion of certain user groups. Public spaces are part of a larger
urban structure and serve not only the surrounding property but also a general societal interest.
As such, it will remain an important task of the local government to carefully monitor publicspace
redevelopment processes, particularly when the private sector is involved.
9.6 Implications for future public-space research
Most of the 50 largest Dutch cities have started to redevelop their central squares in the 1990s.
This has resulted in many renewed public spaces such as those described in the present study.
However, many cities – including the ones we have investigated – keep on redeveloping other
urban public spaces. ’s-Hertogenbosch, for example, is still in the midst of upgrading the Markt.
Dordrecht is now focussing on redeveloping the Achterom/Bagijnhof, the area south of the
Statenplein. In turn, Enschede is creating a Music Quarter including a new square north from
the Oude Markt. Rotterdam expects to finish the redevelopment of the large Binnenrotte in
2010 and is planning to develop a second retail underpass adjacent to the Beurtraverse in 2012.
Redevelopment of public space is thus still in full swing both in the larger cities as well as in
smaller towns. The private sector is involved in a number of these redevelopment projects. We
have contributed to the existing public-space literature by exploring the background and effects
of such private-sector involvement, but as redevelopment projects continue to evolve, future
research must do so to. There are a number of matters that could specifically be addressed.
As discussed in Section 9.4.2, private-sector involvement does not necessarily lead to the
development of secured public space. After all, while the Beurstraverse has high ratings on
secured dimensions, other PPP squares do not. However, as also noted in the same section,
the Beurstraverse is the only research object in which the private sector directly contributed to
the financing of public space. This suggests that private-sector involvement can in fact lead to
restricted access, if the private sector is also directly involved in financing the redevelopment –
and thus runs more risks. Further research is required to shed more light on this relation between
direct private-sector financial contributions and restricted access. This should go beyond the focus
of the present research (i.e., squares in the city centre) and also include other kinds of publicly
accessible spaces in which the private sector is involved, such as indoor shopping centre atriums
and traffic hubs like airports and train stations. As Smithsimon (2008: 330) recently claimed:
“… additional examples of such a link [between developer’s objectives and design elements] are
needed to more fully characterize the influence of private developers on public-space design …”.
If the relation between restricted access and direct financial contribution of the private sector
proves to exist, future research should then focus on social exclusion: public space is becoming
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