Without city marketing, it’s just 'trial and error' In the Dutch harbour city of Rotterdam recently, a plan to build expensive homes in the middle of the city centre was called off at the very last moment. The reason: there was no market for them. How do things get this far? You can’t see Phillips suddenly finding out that there is no demand for a new product just before a launch. Heads would roll, particularly in the marketing department. So how come the housing sector is still happy to work on the basis of trial-and-error marketing? Have the builders got fat and lazy? Probably. It didn’t used to matter what they put on the market: there were always buyers. There was so much demand for houses that people were prepared to pay enormous sums, even for dilapidated properties. In practice, project development simply meant copying plans that had sold successfully somewhere else.

And project developers continue to focus mainly on the buildings, rather than on the people they are meant for. Their idea of marketing is often no more than producing glossy folders.
I hope and believe that these times are finally over. Fortunately, the economic downturn is forcing a rethink.
Home-buyers are becoming increasingly important in the market equation. In their search for a home, they are not just interested in price and quality. They are thinking more and more about commuter transport facilities, schools, night life, culture, safety and space for children to play in.

And where demand becomes more complex, supply has to be more adaptable. But this is still not really happening. Planners continue to produce new building plans that concentrate on the supply side, with little or no interest in demand.
We were recently given the opportunity to study three plans for very different areas (Saarbrücken, Newcastle and the Dutch province of South Holland). And all three contained claims on the lines of: 'The aim of our policy is to attract middle and higher incomes to the city and to keep them there'. That sounds like clear thinking. But what does it mean: middle and higher incomes? One well-off group is not the same as another. Are the planners talking about families, childless couples, young professionals, single people …?

Do the planners know what market demand there is? Do they try to respond accordingly? Or does their role consist of just supplying houses?

Some partners in the Reurba project have been struggling with this marketing issue for some time. The housing markets in Newcastle and Saarbrücken are quite depressed at the moment. In these circumstances, setting up housing programmes in particular locations means doing everything in your power to cater to a particular market segment. You have to study current trends, to find out about housing preferences and lifestyles that go far beyond the design and the appearance of the housing fabric.

In Holland, there is still a shortage of housing, so there is no question of the market declining. However, even here, there has been a cooling down as people move out to other areas as a result of competition from other regions. The province of South Holland has felt the pinch. Although the province is one of the developmental heartlands of the Dutch economy, more people are moving out than moving in. Fortunately, this negative trend has woken up policymakers to the fact that a lot of work needs to be put into urban renewal.

But if urban renewal is to be a success, it will have to be much more customer-driven, and not just in the short term. Long-term thinking is required too. Housing builders, corporations and developers need to wake up to the need for active marketing strategies. They have to look beyond 'managing the housing stock' (housing corporations) or making a quick buck (project developers).
'City marketing' has to become a major tool in urban renewal. And government authorities need to use it too.

Mark Reede, project manager ReUrbA²