Business improvement districts (BIDs) have emerged as possible solutions for the revitalisation of declining urban areas.We investigate the effects of a voluntary Swedish BID programme on firm performance, urban safety and property valuesin five small to medium-sized Swedish towns, and find that it increased labour productivity for incumbent firms within theBID by about 7%, mainly through an increase in revenues. However, the positive effect of the BID programme on firmperformance is transitory, decreasing sharply during the third year after implementation and then becominginsignificant. As for urban safety and property values, the results are mostly insignificant.