Changing public space

4 Private-sector involvement in the
redevelopment of public space
As the state’s sphere of control has contracted over the past three decades, as part of a general
trend of societal change, the balance of control and production of urban space has favoured
private interest. Madanipour (1999: 890)
4.1 Introduction
Generally, the local government is seen as the main responsible actor with regard to public space
(Oc & Tiesdell, 1999; Webster, 2007). However, developers, investors, retailers, and other private
stakeholders increasingly seem to have a say. This is not a new phenomenon: the private sector
has long been involved in the design and management of public space, although the intensity
of its participation varies by place and period. In a liberal welfare state like the United States,
where the government is reluctant to directly intervene in the shaping of society and the built
environment, the private sector has long been a prominent actor in the production of urban
space: “From very early on in the American urban history private business and institutions
played an important role in municipal affairs, and private decisions have largely determined the
pattern of urban development …”(Loukaitou-Sideris & Banerjee, 1998: 75). Businesses and civic
organizations are, for example, encouraged to create publicly accessible space on their property by
means of incentive policies (Kayden, 2000). At a larger scale, they are also stimulated to take care
of public spaces through business improvement associations or districts (Symes & Steel, 2003).
The participation of the private sector can thus range from little involvement (i.e., the public
sector redevelops public space and partly recoups the costs on the private sector) to modest (i.e.,
the private sector is encouraged or even obliged to actively participate by means of, for example,
incentive policies or construction preconditions) and high involvement (i.e, public space becomes
the responsibility of a private consortium).
Such forms of private involvement in the production of public space have been relatively rare
in the Netherlands, where the social democratic welfare system and spatial planning tradition
give the national government a central role (Goodin et al., 1999). However, urban development is
also here increasingly approached in an entrepreneurial format, shifting the responsibility for the
development and management of public space from the national to the local government and to
the private sector. In part, this is due to caps on public budgets. Another reason is that corporate
investors now increasingly own and control publicly accessible space. But even where the local
government still retains full control over public space, the private sector is often active in the
capacity of developer or investor. This is especially evident where the public space is part of a
privately owned commercial complex rather than a city square or park.
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