Wednesday 31 July 2013

The evaluation of Business Improvement Districts: Questions and issues from the Scottish experience

an article by Mhairi Donaghy (EKOS Economic and Social Development, UK) and Anne Findlay and Leigh Sparks (University of Stirling, UK) published in Local Economy volume 28 Number 5 (August 2013)

Abstract

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are an increasingly familiar component of the management of places and the delivery of some services.

However, how do we know if they succeed?

An extended framework for the evaluation of BIDs is developed and then used in primary research on the Pathfinder BIDs in Scotland. The proposed framework, incorporating less tangible aspects of BIDs operations, appears to capture broad dimensions of activities, outcomes, impacts and processes.

The Scottish experience shows limitations in traditional evaluation of BIDs and the benefits of an extended evaluation framework.


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