The Public Policy for Revitalizing Downtown Retailing in the U.S. : A Criticism and a Suggestion for Japan

P(論文)Although urban retail facilities offer external economies that result from the attraction of crowds, such facilities also cause external diseconomies or nuisances that annoy and inconvenience nearby residents. In the United States this problem has been controlled somewhat through zoning and other policies. Since the latter half of the eighties to nineties, however, a remarkable trend has surfaced that protects downtown retailing. This is the result of positive evaluation of the external economies of retailing. The basis for this is that (a) retail activities are essential for a city as a cultural generator to ensure a variety of activities and opportunities for encountering various people, and (b) faced with intensifying competition among cities and regions, a city must publicize its safety, convenience and vigor to entice other enterprises to establish themselves locally. This trend has materialized in the form of many cities adopting new policies for maintaining and revitalizing downtown retailing, as well as severer regulations on nuisances through zoning and other measures. Two such policies are retail zoning and Centralized Retail Management (CRM). Retail zoning is a policy mandating building owners in strategic districts, e.g., "Main Street", or offering them incentives to provide the first floors of buildings for retail uses, thus maintaining retail continuity. This is because where shops stand at intervals, the vitality of a shopping street is lowered. On the other hand, CRM applies a method of unified suburban shopping center management to downtown shopping areas. This policy was devised after learning the lesson that mere physical improvement of shopping facilities does not bring revitalization. Under CRM, enhanced area safety, street maintenance, joint advertising, and special events are pursued on a daily basis. Eventually, this aims at collective control of lease contracts between retailers and building owners and tenant mix. Compared with the situations in the United States, in Japan there is almost no discussion regarding the relationship between cities and retailing. Accordingly, there are practically no policies for balancing external effects. As for policies on revitalizing downtown retailing, importance has been placed on physical improvement. Japan is thus considerably behind the United States in terms of developing the management know-how such as CRM.departmental bulletin pape