RETAIL POLICY AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN METROPOLITAN SPACE: SOME LESSONS FROM THE CASE OF TRES CANTOS (MADRID) NEW TOWN

The strong spatial competition between firms and localities in metropolitan areas yields unequal impacts on the economic growth. The great peripheral retail facilities dominating the surrounding market negatively affects to little and lower-medium settlements that, in this way, play a dominated role, seen as undesirable by local agents and provoking emergent policies. This paper reports the case of a lower medium new town located near Madrid (Tres Cantos), where the local government and retail organisations have reacted against the retail underdevelopment and are promoting measures to overcoming the problems detected, mainly the local consumer leakeage and the limited success or failure of many retail firms. The study presents some findings of a wider report conducted to evaluate the implemented measures, its effectiveness and the local market agents ’ valuation. The experience serves to illustrate the problems of objective setting and policy implementation when public and private sectors participate in a joint decision framework and induces to question the definition of “basic ” activities at local level