Editorials

Citation

(2008), "Editorials", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 1 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpmd.2008.35501aaa.002

Editorials

Article Type: Editorials From: Journal of Place Management and Development, Volume 1, Issue 1.

As a recent graduate my initial interest in the notion of place management which is essentially all it was a few years ago was spurred by learning about the proliferation of BIDs in North America, and the emerging recognition of local, regional and even national economic health being attributed to place marketing, particularly place branding; a subject on which I based my dissertation. The acquisition of this knowledge, coupled with previous employment at a town planning/development economists, has given me the impetus to immerse myself in what has now become an industry that is increasingly recognised as being one of key strategic future significance, not just for the health of our towns and cities, but for all manner of incarnations of the public realm.

It has been a real pleasure to make the step from studying and working in place management to actively contributing to its dissemination as a single unified, albeit multi-faceted, discipline. The opportunity to work with some of the leading figures in the industry, both academic and practitioner, has been an invaluable experience.

There has been a lot of conjecture in recent times concerning the difficulties incarnate in effective place management, not least the range of disconnected stakeholders involved. The old saying goes that anything worth achieving is never easy, and I think this has never been applied more aptly than to the industry we are working in. Indeed, it is precisely this complexity and myriad of contradicting interests and motivations which keep the wheel turning, so to speak, and which make the Journal of Place Management a necessity in providing a point of confluence for differing views and experiences; in the hope that best practice standards will result.

I would like to thank everyone involved in the production of this inaugural issue, particularly the authors and the Editorial Advisory Board, without whose experience and aptitude we would simply not have a journal. Returning to my original point, that place management has evolved dramatically in recent years to become a bona-fide industry of unquestionable importance; I hope that together we can facilitate this evolution further, creating successful places, better places, in the process.

Gareth RobertsEditorial AssistantResearch Assistant Institute of Place Management