Research on the NPO-run Model of American Urban Public Spaces

Abstract

: Urban public space is one of the most important public goods supplied by the local government. Most of urban public spaces are managed by local administration department and rely on annual public expenditure. Once the local government runs into fiscal crisis, some of the public spaces will be impacted by the unreliable management and maintenance, and ruined till they lose basic public service function and become danger zones dragging down the local social and economic development. This paper takes American urban public spaces run by nonprofit organization (NPO) as examples to illustrate how the NPO-run model acting as one of the important supplements to the government-run model, improving the comprehensive quality of public spaces and promoting the downtown revitalization of American cities. With the intention of enriching management models for public space in China, this paper provides deep knowledge of two influential NPO-run models: business improvement district model and urban park conservancy model, with two typical cases for each model: Bryant Park in New York and Forest Park in St. Louis. After giving a brief introduction of public goods theory and social background study, the adaptability and management objectives of the two different models are analyzed in detail, and it provides reference to the differentiated public space management in the related district renewal in China.