City centres as places for strategic cooperation through active city management - the significance of trade entities

This paper posits that the contemporary city should be viewed as a common space that needs the effort of many various stakeholders in order to satisfy the diverse (and changing) needs of its stakeholders. Yet, achieving this effectively requires active management and coordination of a range of activities. This paper discusses three examples of recent activities in Cracow (Poland) that reflect strategic approach. The first of these case studies focuses on identifying the factors encouraging students to remain in Cracow after completing their studies. The second case study corresponds to a shopping centre opened in 2006 and the last case study shows the recent application of the cultural park legal framework to the city centre of Cracow. This study also makes reference to recent research funded by the European Commission’s Life Long Learning programme on the professional competences of city managers across 6 countries

Overtourism

In the past two decades, significant public investments in cultural infrastructure and events encouraged the private sector to consider new investment opportunities in Valletta, particularly in short-term rental accommodation, catering establishments and boutique hotels. In recent years, there was a sharp increase in boutique hotels, tourism rentals and catering establishments. Increased tourism activity reduced liveability for Valletta residents. The research finds that there are the initial signs of overtourism and that this is a source of concern, mainly to Valletta residents and to persons with an interest in urban heritage. If no action is taken to mitigate, it is likely that some of the negative impacts will become severe and unacceptable.peer-reviewe