Cities Do Their Territorial Marketing at MAPIC 2008.

PARIS -- City authorities from the European continent are targeting MAPIC 2008 to explain and develop the importance of the retail sector in their overall marketing strategies.

Jean-Luc Calonger, President of the Association for City Centre Management (AMCV - Belgium) said: "The AMCV has been running the Belgian city stand at MAPIC for ten years now. Experience has shown that MAPIC offers an opportunity for city centre management units to meet key players in retail city planning. But more importantly, private and public partners from different cities come here to meet, share their experiences and compare their situations in a friendly, exclusive environment. This is the only time of the year when all political and economic decision-makers involved happen to be in one place together. There's nothing like it! If it didn't exist, we would have to invent it."

Like AMCV, other major city management associations will be represented at MAPIC this year, including the Associazione Citta Gestione Centri (AGECC) from Italy and The Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) from the United Kingdom. These special partners advise and encourage local communities to develop a comprehensive and coherent strategy for their retail projects, accelerate their economic development and ensure their attractiveness.

As part of this approach, the official conference programme will give special attention to cities with a new "Spotlight on Cities" format. Three sessions will feature 15 local communities which have the opportunity to give a ten minute presentation of their development strategies to win over an audience of retailers looking for new locations, investors in search of returns on sustainable investments, and developers in search of new sites. Speakers from France will be drawn from Rouen, Boulogne-Sur-Mer, the "GrandLyon" urban community of Lyon, and the Seine Aval National Interest Project; from Belgium, the cities of Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Kortrijk; from Italy the regions of Emilia Romagna, Piedmont and Tuscany and the city of Genoa; from the United Kingdom, the cities of Derby and Bristol; and lastly from Sweden, the city of Malmo.

Cities attending MAPIC face a broad range of business challenges. The retail balance between city centres and the outskirts is still a priority issue, as evidenced by the "Carre Feydeau," a 12,000 sq. m. shopping mall designed to liven up the centre of Nantes (France). Revitalising local neighbourhoods is also a concern: Versailles (France) is, for example, restoring the Chantiers railway station to give the surrounding area a new boost. Finding the right mix between residential and retail property is also a major challenge: many joint projects will be exhibited at MAPIC, including such major projects as "Liverpool One," (United Kingdom) with its 160 shops, 500 apartments, two hotels and office space.

As for the countries represented in the exhibition area, France will be strongly represented with the cities of Marseille, Nantes, Lille, Dunkirk and Roubaix. Grouped on the AMCV stand will be Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Arlon and the Province of Luxembourg, underscoring the deep involvement of Belgian cities in MAPIC. The UK is a major player this year with Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham and Bristol sharing the same stand, and representing six of the eight so-called "core cities." The Italian regions of Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy and Modena will also share a stand, where a press event will be hosted during MAPIC, on Thursday, 20 November between 2 pm and 4 pm.

The MAPIC Online Media Centre is now available on the MAPIC website, press section. This online resource launched for the first time this year will give access to the MAPIC official press kit and press releases, but also to press kits and news releases from MAPIC clients.

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