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C.A.C. van Kalken
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Making pops work
Sustainable governance and management for value creation in dutch cities
Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) are becoming increasingly prominent within Dutch urban redevelopment processes as municipalities rely more heavily on private actors to deliver publicly accessible space in contexts of densification and land scarcity (Buitelaar & Bregman, 2016; Van Melik et al., 2009). While existing POPS research primarily focuses on ownership structures, design quality, and privatisation debates, limited attention has been paid to how governance and management shape the long-term functioning and experienced quality of these spaces, especially in the Dutch context. In particular, it remains unclear which agreements and arrangements allow municipalities to protect public values once responsibility for daily operation rests largely with private actors. This thesis addresses this gap by examining how public values are embedded within the governance and management of Dutch POPS and how these arrangements relate to experienced public space quality. The study adopts a qualitative multiple-case study approach, analysing five Dutch POPS in Amsterdam and Rotterdam through semi-structured interviews, document analysis, structured observations, and user surveys. The research combines the Public Space Governance Framework (Zamanifard et al., 2018), Carmona’s (2019) place value framework, and Mehta’s (2014) Public Space Index to examine the relationships between governance mechanisms, management practices, public values, and public space quality. Public space quality is assessed through inclusiveness, meaningful activities, comfort, safety, and pleasurability. The findings demonstrate that the quality and publicness of Dutch POPS are not determined by ownership or spatial design alone, but by the extent to which public values are institutionally embedded and continuously reproduced through governance and management practices over time. Cases characterised by clear governance responsibilities, active long -term stewardship, transparent access conditions, and consistent activation strategies achieved higher levels of actualised public space quality. In contrast, fragmented governance arrangements and commercially dominant management approaches were associated with lower inclusiveness and weaker safeguarding of public values. The research further shows that management practices function as the key operational mechanism through which governance ambitions are either sustained or gradually eroded in everyday use. By linking governance, management, public values, and experienced public space quality within a single analytical framework, the study contributes to the academic debate on hybrid public space governance and provides practical insights for municipalities, developers, and asset managers seeking to safeguard public values in increasingly privatised urban environments.
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Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) are becoming increasingly prominent within Dutch urban redevelopment processes as municipalities rely more heavily on private actors to deliver publicly accessible space in contexts of densification and land scarcity (Buitelaar & Bregman, 2016; Van Melik et al., 2009). While existing POPS research primarily focuses on ownership structures, design quality, and privatisation debates, limited attention has been paid to how governance and management shape the long-term functioning and experienced quality of these spaces, especially in the Dutch context. In particular, it remains unclear which agreements and arrangements allow municipalities to protect public values once responsibility for daily operation rests largely with private actors. This thesis addresses this gap by examining how public values are embedded within the governance and management of Dutch POPS and how these arrangements relate to experienced public space quality. The study adopts a qualitative multiple-case study approach, analysing five Dutch POPS in Amsterdam and Rotterdam through semi-structured interviews, document analysis, structured observations, and user surveys. The research combines the Public Space Governance Framework (Zamanifard et al., 2018), Carmona’s (2019) place value framework, and Mehta’s (2014) Public Space Index to examine the relationships between governance mechanisms, management practices, public values, and public space quality. Public space quality is assessed through inclusiveness, meaningful activities, comfort, safety, and pleasurability. The findings demonstrate that the quality and publicness of Dutch POPS are not determined by ownership or spatial design alone, but by the extent to which public values are institutionally embedded and continuously reproduced through governance and management practices over time. Cases characterised by clear governance responsibilities, active long -term stewardship, transparent access conditions, and consistent activation strategies achieved higher levels of actualised public space quality. In contrast, fragmented governance arrangements and commercially dominant management approaches were associated with lower inclusiveness and weaker safeguarding of public values. The research further shows that management practices function as the key operational mechanism through which governance ambitions are either sustained or gradually eroded in everyday use. By linking governance, management, public values, and experienced public space quality within a single analytical framework, the study contributes to the academic debate on hybrid public space governance and provides practical insights for municipalities, developers, and asset managers seeking to safeguard public values in increasingly privatised urban environments.