Inner cities are no longer lively, it was said at the conference “The Valuable Inner City” on November 7th in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The event was organized by Retailagenda, DNWS and the real estate agent Kern. The depletion of city centers is a problem that has existed for several years. Therefore, it is time to tackle the inner cities. Cooperation and digitization are the messages that are emphasized again and again.
“The perception of the center is important to us,” began Economics Minister Micky Adriaanse. “If we don’t take care of it, it will become very sterile.” It is the first time that the Ministry of Economics and Climate has spoken out when it comes to the quality of life in inner cities. This is in response to INretail’s request after the industry body argued that the government should and can intervene. Adriaanse seems to understand the urgency and cites several problems that city centers are facing: high energy prices, rent increases by landlords, the tight situation on the labor market, pressure on the quality of life in the centers and large online providers who are replacing the brick-and-mortar dominate trade.
“It’s time to work together. We, the cabinet, and you, the industry. We must work together to make inner cities a livable place. Local shopping is becoming more popular than ‘big city’ shopping. It’s not just about the range of shops, but also about culture and a good library,” says Adriaanse. How inner cities can become a “place to be” again was highlighted in various discussions on current topics such as change, sustainability and digitization over the course of the day. The topics were deepened by representatives from retail, the real estate sector and the government.
Digitization of inner cities creates more visibility for retailers
Marcel Evers from INretail, Anke Griffoen from the shoe store Caland/Schoen Rotterdam-Amsterdam and the consultancy H&G as well as Michiel Vos from Zupr emphasized in the panel discussion ‘Getting a grip on our online world’ that the digitization of city centers means companies on site in today’s digital can make the world more visible: “Due to digitization and the emergence of platforms, almost all traditional companies are faced with the challenge of optimizing their earnings model or looking for new market access. Both in physical and digital form,” says Evers.
Currently, the online playing field is dominated by big online players like Amazon, Bol.com and Zaland – also called Big Tech. This puts the focus on price competition, delivery and payment for the online presence. “This is exactly how it shouldn’t be,” emphasizes Evers. “Instead, local businesses should become more visible.” So how should it be done? Retailers must work together to create a fairer online playing field. “Think of a kind of home delivery app on marktplaats.nl,” says Evers. Such an online platform can strengthen local retail by increasing online presence. It also improves the public function of the shopping street and preserves the vibrancy of the city center as consumers can see where a retail establishment is located and what the city has to offer. What exactly such a platform will look like is not yet known. Evers stressed that such a project requires a lot of time, cooperation and negotiations.
The digital framework conditions must therefore create a healthy playing field for stationary and online retail, so that retailers can earn their living in social responsibility, exercise their social role and maintain attractive shopping zones. “In this globalized world, opportunities are more local. However, it requires great commitment. We need to start thinking and acting creatively to redesign the physical and digital public space at the local level, with citizens’ desires playing a role,” says Evers. From “too big to fail” to smaller, slower and more humane is the main thrust of the solution, according to Evers. It is about regaining control, personal responsibility, trust and cooperation.
The Valuable Inner City event made the industry think clearly about solutions to regain the quality of life in city centers. All visitors received relevant information that they could take with them to their own company. At the end of the day there was also an opportunity to sit down and have a networking drink.
This translated post originally appeared on FashionUnited.nl.