Encouraging the implication of shops in the city by means of retail associationism. Case of Bilbao.

Retail activity in urban areas constitutes a key variable in the health of a city. For that reason, the processes of urban revitalization and retail revitalization run in parallel manner. Integrated management models for urban centres constitute a good framework to harness the competitiveness of the cities and their retail businesses, but they require of all implied participation, by means of a public – private cooperation. Retail business participation needs to articulate the channels for it. In this sense, zonal associations constitute the organizational context to give voice to retail shops, but they are a pending subject, if we see the low rates of associationism in Spain. In this paper, we analyse the relationship between factors featuring the retail business situation in cities, particularly its location, the length of time, and the number of employees, with respect to its affiliation to the zonal association, with the purpose of establishing guidelines to improve the rates of associative participation.