REF: 2007/No.1

This paper examines the capacity of Town Centre Management (TCM) to contribute towards the social enhancement of local places and communities in the English context. Much recent literature has highlighted the effectiveness of TCM, referring to the same objectives as those of recent regeneration programmes: place marketing, retail and leisure development, surveillance measures and evening and night time economies. However, these aspects of urban regeneration favoured by TCM are mainly concerned with consumption-based economic revitalization and physical upgrading, while little attention has been paid to social dimensions of regeneration issues. The key to the examination of the TCM’s roles in social regeneration may lie in questions of pursuing social equity: how does TCM plays a role in redistributing some of the benefits brought by physical and economic regeneration into the development of local communities? Out of the pilot study and twelve case studies, only three cases (Wigan, Doncaster and Wood Green) have demonstrated positive impact of TCM in pursuing social equity of the regeneration premises, while two (Birmingham and Reading) have provided counter evidence. Utilising the data from these five case studies, this article discusses the roles and potential of TCM in redistributing the regeneration benefits over the communities from different social strata.