Place Management
Place management is the mechanism for managing the wide range of issues, challenges and opportunities that face an activities area or town centre every day. It is a management approach that enables issues to be pursued in an integrated, coordinated way to achieve the economic, social and environmental potential of an activities area or town centre.
Government policy encourages mixed used development, activity, and living in designated activities areas around key transport and access nodes. These areas also have a range of stakeholders, residents and community who are affected by the many policies, plans and procedures being implemented. Place Management is important to provide a holistic and coordinated approach to the improvement of a place through an integrated approach to implementation and management.
Support for Place Managers
The Department acknowledges the importance of place management for Activities Areas and has previously provided funding support to local Councils who employ place managers through a range of programs.
The Department acknowledges that place management is a broad and emerging profession that has no set definition or boundaries. To assist current and new Place Managers, the Department is in the process of developing a number of support tools on place management. These include:
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A Place Management Information Booklet to assist local government, business associations, property owners and other government agencies to understand and appreciate place management and how it can facilitate the development of vibrant activity and town centres.
Place Management Information Booklet (PDF - 1.9 MB)
- A background paper which provides both the Australian and International context for place management, related issues, roles, responsibilities and challenges of place management. This paper also provides a matrix style guide to identify the need for a place manager position for a centre and appropriate skills, roles and responsibilities for that role. It also provides a spectrum of expectation and success indicators that will help prepare the place managers, once appointed, for their designated roles.
Activities Areas and the Role of Place Management (PDF - 135 KB)
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A database of place manager position descriptions, which are varied and not necessarily endorsed by the Department.
- Undertaking benefit assessments of a place management approach using local and international case studies.
The Department is keen to work with all place managers across the state, in particular the LGPro Principal Activities Areas Special Interest Group in developing these tools and the related skill sets and resources required.
The Department is also open to any further comments or suggestions on areas that may be of interest and of help to the place managers. If you have any suggestions or comments please contact the Program Manager via activities.areas@dpcd.vic.gov.au.