http://hdl.handle.net/11089/24295 2026-04-06T17:28:13Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/24301 People, Place and Partnership: Exploring Strategies to Revitalise Town Centres Hospers, Gert-Jan More and more town centres in Western Europe are in decline, as indicated by growing shop vacancy rates in shopping streets. To turn the tide, decision makers look for revitalisation strategies. Are there any solutions? Making use of theoretical insights, empirical findings and anecdotal evidence from the Netherlands, we suggest that town centre revitalisation is a matter of connecting people, place and partnership. First, strategies should be based on an understanding of how customers (people) behave. Secondly, redesign of the physical environment (place) might be needed, since visitors prefer compact centres that are built on a human scale and known for a unique profile. Finally, close collaboration between a wide range of local stakeholders (partnership) is essential. We conclude that town centre revitalisation is possible, but takes a lot of energy and patience from the actors involved. 2017-08-05T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/24302 Proposal for a Method of Constructing Inclusive Urban Green Infrastructure Fronczek-Wojciechowska, Magdalena; Kopacz, Karolina; Padula, Gianluca; Wiśniewski, Szymon; Wojnarowska, Anna Population ageing and growing awareness of the need for physical activity is one of the most important topics in Europe nowadays. But it should be noted that there is still no interdisciplinary and integrated approach to urban environment planning concerning physical activity of elderly people which would take into account special needs and possibilities of this particular group. Elderly people represent one of the groups which are threatened with social exclusion for different reasons. This article presents a proposal for a method of constructing a spatial system consisting of natural and anthropogenic elements of urban environment which can be interpreted as Inclusive Urban Green Infrastructure, enabling active and healthy ways of recreation, including the needs of elderly persons. It is based on the existing elements of the environment, but to create a well-functioning system in urban space it is necessary to introduce additional elements, both natural and man-created. The method refers to the spatial definition of areas for active recreation which meet the adopted, specific for elderly people, pro-health and functional requirements. Creation of such a system in cities would contribute to inclusion of this group into social life, thus boosting social coherence and integration across generations, and would also bring beneficial health results. Such infrastructure would also be of considerable importance for sustainable urban growth and improvement of the quality of urban space. The paper is based on source materials from the fields of science investigating health in connection with physiology of the process of ageing, influence of physical activity on this process, impact of negative features of the environment on the health of elderly people as well as urban space planning and development. The proposed methodology of constructing Inclusive Urban Green Infrastructure is presented on the example of Łódź, using data from the Geographic Information System (Topographic Objects Database) and population database for cities. 2017-08-05T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/24300 Local Disorder and the Success of Firms in Residential Neighbourhoods Mollenhorst, Gerald; Schutjens, Veronique According to economic geography literature, the success of firms is affected by the local context, in particular when firms are socio-spatially embedded. We expect this effect to be stronger when firms face an increase in local disorder. We analysed data on 344 firms (active in retail, eating and drinking establishments, personal services and private education, business services, cultural activities, manufacturing and building) in 108 Dutch residential neighbourhoods, and data on the changes in social and physical disorder of those neighbourhoods, to examine firm success determinants. We find that it is not the degree of disorder that matters to local firms turnover, but rather recent changes in local disorder. More in particular, we find that local firm turnover is negatively affected by an increase in local disorder, but only when a firm depends on daily visits from predominantly local customers. Our results suggest that physical and social local interventions to create safe and clean public spaces will indirectly positively influence local firms and subsequently, the neighbourhood economy. This spill-over effect is promising for both residents, who benefit from local amenities and local ‘buzz’, and local entrepreneurs, whose firm success is stimulated. 2017-08-05T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/24299 Decentralization Reform in Ukraine: Assessment of the Chosen Transformation Model Udovychenko, Volodymyr; Melnychuk, Anatoliy; Gnatiuk, Oleksiy; Ostapenko, Pavlo Ukraine has to reform the spatial organization of power, which involves alteration of the administrative-territorial division in very difficult socio-economic and political conditions. Despite a great interest in the Ukrainian decentralization reform in scientific publications and media, the influence of chosen voluntary consolidation mode on the newly formed territorial communities, including their spatial configuration, economic potential and institutional capability, remains uncovered. Trying to shed some light on the issue, the authors made an attempt to reveal advantages and disadvantages of the selected model of reform on the example of the Perspective Plan of Territorial Communities Formation in Kyiv Region. 2017-08-05T00:00:00Z