Traditional or experiential places? Exploring research needs and practitioner challenges in the management of town centres beyond the economic crisis

This paper outlines some of the key issues affecting town and city centres today, and provides glimpses of new challenges and opportunities for researchers and practitioners in this field. These include the strategic positioning of town centres, managing the evening and night-time economies effectively, the growing role of the experience economy to town centre attractiveness beyond mere retail-led approaches, the potential dichotomy between physical town centres and digital high streets, more human smart cities, as well as the growing role of emerging concepts such as the sharing economy and the circular economy. It is argued that place management practitioners will need to address these trends proactively (rather than reactively) and that further research is required in order to understand the complex interactions of the various parameters managed by place managers to keep town centres vibrant, viable, innovative and resilient to further global economic downturns.