Challenges of an integrated management of public space

The public space that is vital for the quality of life and the functioning of the urban area faces significant pressure. The fragmented arrangement of actors leads to inefficiency and problems in coordination between actors. Public space managers strive for integration to tackle these challenges, prompting a fundamental shift of the policy arrangement. This study explores, through a qualitative multiple case study conducted on Dutch municipalities, how the current policy arrangement of managing public space is constructed, and how it hampers an integrated approach. This research shows that the strategic management of the municipalities stimulates an integrated approach but often fails to implement this approach due to various challenges in all dimensions of the policy arrangement. The challenges identified in the research are mainly expressed in the discourse and require more interaction between the actors, the development of necessary knowledge and competences and a change in the informal rules.