Foreword

Citation

Parker, C. (2014), "Foreword", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 7 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-02-2014-0003

Foreword

Article Type: Foreword From: Journal of Place Management and Development, Volume 7, Issue 1

Having spent many years as a publisher encouraging, coaxing and supporting authors to publish practitioner and policy-focused research, I am delighted by the papers that have been accepted for this special issue of the Journal of Place Management and Development. For me, these practitioner papers typify what successful academic publishing should be – a constant collaboration to bridge the gap between the worlds of academic research and practice.

Emerald has always endeavoured to link research and practice for the benefit of society. Nearly 50 years later, we are still investing in ways that we can best support, motivate and encourage practitioners and policymakers, as well as academics, to become active participants in this conversation.

Place management, with its emphasis on collaborative engagement, is an ideal forum for the effective interchange of discussion between researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Since its launch in 2008, the Journal of Place Management and Development has navigated a successful path between these three communities, and it has never been a better time for more practitioners to join this exchange. High quality content from practitioners in the field – via traditional journal articles, shorter viewpoint pieces, case studies, video interviews and many other channels – add to the momentum for practitioners to take their place in the debate, and to inform future thinking about their industries.

All things being equal, collaboration between the worlds of academia and practice should be cyclical so that both communities are being constantly updated and engaged with the findings of the other. Whilst research has shown that both groups place equal value on research that is interesting and based on sound evidence (Baldridge et al., 2004), practitioners are still making wrong decisions for their organizations due to lack of awareness of the relevant research (Rynes et al., 2007). Similarly, academic researchers are described as "wasting" research because of failings in effectively communicating with practitioners (Kelemen and Bansal, 2002).

Emerald is currently undertaking a significant project to understand the drivers that do motivate practitioner authors to write, in the hope that we can help support increased engagement and output from this vital group in the conversation. Whether you are an academic, a practitioner or policymaker, published or not, I would welcome your input; please contact me at: mailto:redwards@emeraldinsight.com

Rob Edwards
Publisher (Professional Markets), Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Editorial

The benefits of more practical and policy-focussed publishing are significant. I would like to thank the authors who appear in this special issue for taking the time to add their thoughts to this important conversation. We summarise their main contributions below.

Joseph Akinlabi Fadamiro and Adeniran Joseph Adedeji’s paper, entitled “Recreational experiences in parks and gardens, Ibadan, Nigeria”, offers an interesting insight into usage patterns of urban parks and gardens, looking at factors influencing this usage and their relation to the subsequent overall experience. The research focuses on three parks in the city of Ibadan, Nigeria, with random sampling employed in order to survey users of the park concerning variables relating to personal, physical and psychological factors. The research focuses on three key themes – the overall design of the urban natural landscape, meeting people’s needs, and the nature of space management. The questionnaire employed was designed to elicit information on issues including age, education, marital status, income, schedule of visits, gender, site quality, company for the visit, and frequency of visit, enabling connections between these variables in relation to the overall experience to be made. As such, the research offers place managers an insight into the key factors that influence the experience and satisfaction of visits to urban parks and gardens, thus providing valuable guidance in terms of potential areas for improvement/investment towards which resources could and should be directed.

Earl Bailey’s paper, "Redefining comprehensive urban management, in the Kingston Metropolitan Region, Jamaica", provides a comprehensive overview of the problems which beset urban management in the country, and offers recommendations on how the situation may be better managed in the form of more effective "comprehensive urban management" (CUM). It is suggested that CUM, if subjected to the adaptations outlined, can address the negative consequences of the interrelationship between; the increasing urban poor population, expansion of informal settlements on marginalised urban lands, overburdened and old urban infrastructure, and the increase in frequency and intensity of natural hazards. The research places these four concerns within the context of the Kingston Metropolitan Region, in which they are discussed in relation to a perceived lack of effective urban management and planning in this area. The research employs a mixture of information gleaned from a variety of public and private institutions, coupled with surveys in the form of observation and questionnaires. The cause and effect interrelationships between the four factors listed above are presented in a problem tree format and analysed and discussed against a backdrop of known facts and theoretical points of view. With said factors threatening the viability of the Kingston Metropolitan Region, and thus the viability of national economic development in Jamaica as a whole, Bailey opines that the need for a better form of urban management is much needed. The research provides a number of concerning insights into the socio-economic situation in the Kingston Metropolitan Region, including increases in urban poor, informal settlements, lack of investment in urban infrastructure, and an increase in the frequency of hazardous natural meteorological events, which when coupled with the factors above create a situation which is extremely dangerous. Furthermore, the research opines that urban planning and management in the area, and the country as a whole, is lacking. As such, a new form of CUM is proposed as a means of alleviating the problems highlighted. In addition to Kingston and Jamaica, the findings and recommendations will have implications for other small island developing states who may be experiencing similar urban problems.

Ipoh Old Town is Malaysia’s fourth largest city and exhibits an interesting conundrum: rising property prices combined with high levels of vacancy and dereliction. William Wee Lim Hew, David Yoon Kin Tong and Gerald Guan Gan Goh’s article examines the dynamics behind this situation and looks at how the Old Town might be regenerated to benefit current residents and businesses as well as to stimulate new investment. In doing so, they assess both the situation on the ground and the broader policy framework which might promote or inhibit such transformation and looks to experience in other locations. Their research leads to a number of recommendations which they believe are important to achieve a balance between conservation and commercial sustainability.

Andrea Ciaramella, Valentina Puglisi and Tommaso Truppi’s "Environmental performance assessment for urban districts" covers the very practical issue of improving the environmental quality of developments in small urban areas. In Italy, existing appraisal mechanisms used to assess the potential environmental impact only apply at the level of the city. In the USA, neighbourhood-level environmental decision making protocols exist, but the territorial context is very different, meaning these tools cannot be transferred without some adjustment. This paper deals with the practical issue of combining and adapting environmental performance assessment mechanisms and forecasting/modelling techniques to improve the design and construction of small developments. The aim being to improve microclimate comfort, air quality and acoustic comfort (noise). The detail in the paper will enable other designers/planners to also adopt or adapt the authors’ method, to make small improvements that can have major impact on the quality of people’s lives.

Our final paper "Branding Pakistan as a ‘Sufi’ country: the role of religion in developing a nation’s brand" by Salman Yousaf and Li Huaibin looks at the negative perception of Pakistan and the lack of proactive branding or communication techniques employed by the Pakistan Government to try and counteract the many misconceptions of the country. The thoughtful nature of the piece should prompt debate as to the potential for Sufism to embody and communicate the values of the citizens of Pakistan to a worldwide audience.

Cathy Parker, Simon Quin and Gareth Roberts

References

Baldridge, D.C., Floyd, S.W. and Markóczy, L. (2004), "Are managers from Mars and academicians from Venus? Toward an understanding of the relationship between academic quality and practical relevance", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 25 No. 11, pp. 1063–1074

Kelemen, M. and Bansal, P. (2002), "The conventions of management research and their relevance to management practice", British Journal of Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 97–108

Rynes, S.L., Giluk, T.L. and Brown, K.G. (2007), "The very separate worlds of academic and practitioner periodicals in human resource management: implications for evidence-based management", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 50 No. 5, pp. 987–1008