High Street Adaptations: Ethnicity, independent retail practices and Localism in London's urban margins (original) (raw)
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National high street retail and town centre policy at a cross roads in England and Wales
Cities, 2018
For eighty years, UK government policy related to urban sprawl, town centres and high streets in England and Wales has been dominated by planning/land-use control. In the post-war period, retail developments have often been discussed in the literature on planning for places – but the wide range of pressures for retail change is rarely brought together. This review of policy discusses many of these pressures: many of which fall beyond the urban planning remit. For example, although retail planning regulations have been influenced by Central Place Theory, this theoretical framework offers no insight on those private sector businesses that interface with urban planning. Worse, few (if any) professional town planners study retailing before formulating plans. Furthermore, the willingness of successive governments to exert meaningful influence through planning rules has ebbed and flowed, leaving town centres at a potential crossroads. This study addresses the vital missing link to business operations – and the rising pressures upon them – using Institutional Theory. Building on the findings of this analysis as well as earlier studies from other parts of the world, this article outlines implications for the management of town and city centres in England and Wales.
The Battle for the High Street (chapter one)
This book analyses the social and cultural status of high streets in the age of recession and austerity. High streets are shown to have long been regarded as the heart of many communities, but have declined to a state where boarded-up and vacant retail units are a familiar sight in many British cities. The book argues that the policies deemed necessary to revive the fortunes of high streets are often thinly-veiled attacks on the tastes and cultures of the working class. Policy-makers often promote boutiques, art galleries and upmarket cafés at the expense of some of the outlets frequented by less affluent populations, including betting shops, fast food takeaways, discount stores and bargain booze outlets. Highlighting the social and cultural roles that so-called 'dying' high streets continue to play in the lives of working class and disadvantaged populations, this book provides a powerful argument against retail gentrification, and a timely analysis of class conflict in austerity Britain. It will be of great interest to scholars of geography, social policy and cultural studies.
2016
The paper critically reviews retail-led regeneration and retail containment polices and their effects on the urban retail in the UK by analysing the effect that retail-led mega-schemes regeneration projects have on the economic growth of inner cities. There is significant controversy whether mega-schemes in retail-led regeneration initiatives contribute to the growth of local economies or whether it leads to the pitch shifting and marginalisation of local retail. The research focuses on two neighbouring strategies in Birmingham and Solihull to determine differences in the application of retail-led regeneration in inner city and peripheral locations. Birmingham’s Bullring centre and Solihull’s Touchstone centre was researched using quantitative data on the growth of the retail sector in Birmingham and supplemented using interviews with key actors. The paper critically analyses whether retail-led mega-schemes have a net positive effect on the economic revitalisation of the deteriorati...
2011
The paper critically reviews retail-led regeneration and retail containment polices and their effects on the urban retail in the UK by analysing the effect that retail-led mega-schemes regeneration projects have on the economic growth of inner cities. There is significant controversy whether mega-schemes in retail-led regeneration initiatives contribute to the growth of local economies or whether it leads to the pitch shifting and marginalisation of local retail. The research focuses on two neighbouring strategies in Birmingham and Solihull to determine differences in the application of retail-led regeneration in inner city and peripheral locations. Birmingham's Bullring centre and Solihull's Touchstone centre was researched using quantitative data on the growth of the retail sector in Birmingham and supplemented using interviews with key actors. The paper critically analyses whether retail-led mega-schemes have a net positive effect on the economic revitalisation of the det...
Improving the vitality and viability of the UK High Street by 2020
Journal of Place Management and Development
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to document the results and the impact of the ESRC-funded High Street UK 2020 (HSUK2020), a project designed to take the existing academic knowledge relating to retail and high street change directly to UK High Streets, to improve local decision-making and, ultimately, their vitality and viability. Design/methodology/approach Through a systematic literature review, and by following the tenets of engaged scholarship, the authors identified 201 factors that influence the vitality and viability of town centres. Through the consensus-building Delphi technique, a panel of 20 retail experts identified the top 25 priorities for action. Findings Taking a place management approach led to the development of a more strategic framework for regeneration, which consisted of repositioning, reinventing, rebranding and restructuring strategies (4R’s of regeneration). Collaboration with the project towns resulted in identification of the strategy area that would a...
Preserving Transcultural Heritage: Your Way or My Way, 2017
Local shopping streets are harbingers of a sense of place and memory for those who inhabit and use them. However, they have been largely neglected by planning decisions in city centre redevelopment, especially in the UK, but also throughout the world, with an approach focused on the franchised retail led occupation of these streets. The relentless demolition of city streets for this purpose threatens to erase the tangible and intangible heritage of local shopping streets. This paper aims to communicate how North Street and Castle Street in Belfast, two local shopping streets are at risk of losing their sense of place and ownership. These are valued by those who inhabit and use them, and will very likely be replaced anonymous franchised commercial spaces.
Planning and governance issues in the restructuring of the high street
Journal of Place Management and Development
Purpose This paper aims to examine the role of “restructuring” in confronting the challenges facing contemporary high streets in the devolved UK. It complements three articles concerned with repositioning, reinventing and rebranding and illustrates the multi-faceted approaches involved in addressing retail change and town centre transformations. This paper emphasises the role of planning and governance in effecting change. Design/methodology/approach Informed by a literature review, action research involved inter-related interventions in selected locations, and associated workshops with engaged practitioners and community actors. Findings The findings highlight that the “resilience” of contemporary town centres demands resisting efforts to return to the status quo and necessitate forms of adaptive management. Understanding high street degeneration and the limitations of a retail-only led policy focus as a “wicked issue” further demands socially constructing town centres as an ecosys...