From your point of view, what should the placemaking industry expect in 2023?
“To create liveable and interesting city centers, a wide range of mixed functions is crucial. Many bigger retail locations are now being transformed into multi-use places to create a destination for consumers to visit. Providing new experiences regularly is necessary to keep the visitors coming – they are always on the lookout to experience what they have not had before. We have to offer a full program with the excitement of the new, combined with the convenience of the known.
Hospitality and leisure will be playing a big role in creating the experience. In the historical city center of Lille (France), we repurposed our 25,000 sq m asset into the latest generation, mixed-use scheme with a stunning new façade. This former Galleries Lafayette department store is now providing retail, a street food market, leisure, (co-) working spaces, a four-star hotel, and 600 parking spaces. This is a mix of strong, innovative, and complementary concepts. The next generation of placemaking will be to manage this asset as a connected community of brands, together with partners in the area and the visitors.”
What opportunities and challenges do you see?
“As an asset manager -with a long history in retail – we are on the verge of re-purposing many retail assets, there are huge opportunities to do that in such a way that the assets will be more sustainable and future-proof. Not only should we look at how we build to reduce our emissions as much as possible, but there is a huge opportunity to improve the social impact of a building on its surroundings.”
In your view, is the placemaking industry facing any fundamental or long-term changes?
“As a landlord, we will need to help our tenants and offer a different kind of ‘service’; we will become much more operationally involved.”
What do you recommend / what are your hopes for the industry and market participants?
“Redevco is on a mission. We want to lead the transformation of cities to ensure they are sustainable and liveable. We fully understand that we cannot achieve this alone, therefore we want our industry to collaborate and make a collective effort.”
Read more about expert opinions in our Online Special: “Industry Outlook 2023”.
