IPM Research Insight: Emerging theme – POPS

Topics that reflect changes in place management thinking, policy, or technology. Includes areas like Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPs), artificial intelligence, participatory design, temporary uses, and evolving planning reforms. Each quarter, we will feature an article to support your CPD – bridging academic insight with emerging real-world place management. 

Place managers across the UK are increasingly dealing with Privately Owned Public Spaces (or POPS as they are becoming know as) from city squares and retail plazas to repurposed industrial sites. A new open access article by Dr Jenny Kanellopoulou, Dr Nikos Ntounis and Prof Steve Millington, explores how these spaces are managed on the ground and what that means for their ‘publicness’. 

You can join an event on POPS to learn more in October 2025.