Lombardy region

The big increase in floor space of large stores within the last few years in Lombardy region and their usual siting outside of built-up areas has had various consequences not only of a commercial but also of an urban planning, environmental and social nature.
Town centres have lost their identity. There have also been cases of retail desertification in the centre and periphery of towns. Services in small towns have become fragile and an increase of congested main roads is remarkable.
Participation in the VITAL CITIES project is therefore an opportunity to study and compare, in a wider context, the state of the art in the region in terms of size and quality of retail networks, of consumer behaviour, of policies and development planning and control tools, focusing attention on particularly critical situations within the retail trade network and territorial and environmental fragility.
The general objectives of the programme are modernization and upgrading of the regional retail system and its local subsystems on the one hand and integration of retail development policies with regional development and environmental policies on the other hand. It is also strived for a balanced distribution of retail outlets across the region and in the towns as well as for appreciation for the social dimension of retail activities.
The resulting guidelines call for restraint on development of large-scale stores, attention to the impact of individual decisions on overall regional development plans, and innovation in the sector by way of general upgrading. The region's territory has been subdivided into zones with associated intervention policies which take into account the differing socio-economic and geographic contexts and pay attention to the needs of metropolitan areas, the conservation of historic town centres and the preservation of neighbourhood shops, especially where there is a risk of desertification, in mountain localities and in underprivileged areas.
In the Vital Cities project, the intention is to work on the objectives specified in the programme as priority areas for investment and which have particular importance in attaining the overall goal which  emphasizes the social value of retail trade.
The targets are to guarantee adapt levels of services in mountain and disadvantaged areas and to revitalize town centres and outskirts.
Data on size and quality of the retail network, and surveys of consumer habits, will be gathered, updated and computerized as well.

http://www.regione.lombardia.it