Colin J. Thomas

City Centre Regeneration through Residential Development: Contributing to Sustainability:

Following a discussion of recent policies for the city centre in Britain, the paper explores the contribution of residential development to aspects of sustainability, drawing on a range of survey evidence in Bristol and Swansea. The residents are frequent shoppers, helping to sustain the local daytime economy. Sustainability goals are also supported because large proportions of residents walk to city centre attractions, and many also to their places of work, showing reduced reliance on the private car. Support for the expanding nighttime economy reflects the age, gender and social class composition of the resident population, with different attractions receiving different levels of support from different social groups, but with younger adults as the mainstay. Sustainability in the city centre context appears best served by a majority of young adult residents, ameliorated by a sizeable proportion of older adults, and an absence of households with children. Grandiose government sustainability aims of creating the truly balanced community which includes many children, should be modified in this local context.

THE RETAIL REVOLUTION, THE CARLESS SHOPPER AND DISADVANTAGE

The spatial restructuring of retailing in British cities in recent years has been characterized as a retail revolution. Off-centre superstores, retail warehouses, and planned regional shopping centres have been added to the pattern of traditional shopping facilities, which in turn have often experienced decline. The dichotomy between the old and new shopping facilities is increasingly reflected in a marked inequality in the opportunities of consumers, in which those with poor mobility are seen as disadvantaged consumers. Investigation of household shopping behaviour in the Swansea area following the recent development of many new car-orientated facilities, reveals that mobility, and specifically car-ownership, is the principal determinant of major variations in shopping behaviour for groceries and DIY products, and also for more specialized goods on sale at off-centre locations. The attractions of the newer off-centre opportunities dominate the shopping behaviour of the car-owning households. By contrast, the carless shopper appears constrained in behaviour and largely bypassed by the retail revolution. Examination of alternative factors influencing shopping behaviour, such as location of residence, age and socio-economic status serves to confirm the importance of car-ownership. The relationship between carlessness and disadvantage is also considered. Lack of a car is associated with elements of social disadvantage, and it is clear that the shopping trips of the carless shopper focus disproportionately on the traditional and more localized shopping facilities. The extent to which this constitutes consumer disadvantage, however, still awaits a direct and comprehensive investigation. (A)

Retail revitalization and small town centres: the contribution of shopping linkages

Abstract Change has been a continuous feature of retailing in Britain since the mid-1960s. New types of shopping facilities have been developed, usually in decentralized locations, while the largest town and city centres have retained their commercial dominance. These changes have had significant negative competitive effects on all types of smaller traditional centres, especially middle-order centres (small towns, district centres and small market towns), where a ‘spiral of decline’ has been widely evident. Many communities face the prospect of losing their commercial and social focuses. Government activity has attempted to contain this problem by constraining retail decentralization and promoting redevelopment in the traditional centres. Limited evidence suggests that the revitalization process is strongly dependent on the scale, quality and location of the food shopping facilities of such centres and the associated ‘spin-off’ shopping linkages. This article aims to provide additional insight into this by investigating the shopping linkages between a closely integrated new shopping precinct, incorporating an edge-of-centre superstore, in the small town centre of Llanelli in South Wales. Redevelopment, which retained a compact structure based upon spatial proximity, was found to encourage high levels of linkage between the component parts of the centre and generated favourable attitudes to the shopping environment. However, the successful spatial integration of the superstore with the centre needed a site that approximated to an in-town/edge-of-centre site rather than to a more peripheral edge-of-centre or out-of-centre site. Clearly, considerable care is required to define edge-of-centre locations for new developments if they are to assist in regenerating a declining centre. This study strongly supports governmental caution on this issue. The advantages of undertaking shopping linkage analyses for the formulation of planning strategies designed to revitalize declining town centres is also demonstrated.

Disaggregating the space - time layers of city-centre activities and their users

Adopting a focus on both time and space, the authors aim to unpack the complexity of uses and users in the city centre. Evidence from Swansea reveals a stark twofold temporal division between a frequently visited daytime city and a much less frequently visited evening and nighttime city. Furthermore, lower intensity evening activities such as theatres and cinemas are distinguished from the higher intensity nighttime activities of pubs and clubs, with restaurants and cafés occupying an intermediate position. The evening clientele visit less frequently and are disproportionately drawn from the older and higher status social groups, whereas later at night, pubs and clubs are visited more frequently, and by imbalances of the young, lower status groups, and students. The city centre is seen as an area of spatial, temporal, and social segregation, with implications for policies that aim towards a more inclusive and safer 24-hour city. The conclusions emphasise the importance of time in urban geographical research and in policies for city-centre revitalisation.

New ‘High Streets’ in the Suburbs? the growing competitive impact of evolving retail parks

Abstract Following the emergence of retail parks in the late 1970s in Britain, they have grown in number, scale and degree of retail specialisation. Some continue to form concentrations offering primarily ‘bulky goods’ shopping, while others have diversified to offer traditional ‘high street’ functions from stores indistinguishable from their town and city centre equivalents. Consequently, in some cases the emergence of new ‘high streets’ in the suburbs can be posited. In view of the potential impact such developments might have on traditional shopping centres, this study reviews the development of retail parks in Britain in recent years, and examines the commercial impact of a retail park in the process of transition towards a suburban ‘high street’. Evidence from surveys in 2003 and 2004 of the Fforestfach Retail Park in the greater Swansea area indicates that the transition towards a suburban ‘high street’ is beginning to impact significantly on traditional shopping centres of all types. It was evident that even small additions of ‘high street’ functions between the two recent survey dates elicited a statistically significant strengthening of their trading impact. Consequently, it is suggested that upgraded retail parks are likely to become stronger competitive threats to the full range of district, town and city centres if ‘high street’ functions continue to be added to retail parks.

Developing leisure and cultural attractions in the regional city centre: a policy perspective

Smaller regional cities and former industrial cities throughout North America and Europe have experienced fundamental transformations of their economies over recent decades, and authorities have continually sought new functions for the postindustrial era. Following on from retail, office, and residential regeneration within many city centres, leisure and cultural policies have also been adopted. The British city of Swansea, which has developed such policies since the 1990s, is a regional city which typifies these processes. Drawing on large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews, the authors argue that four policy challenges are facing the development of a thriving leisure and cultural economy in smaller regional cities across Europe and North America. These challenges involve creating a leisure and cultural economy which: embraces a wide range and variety of attractions; appeals to a broad spectrum of social groups; adopts an appropriate spatial strategy; and overcomes friction between the different component parts of the leisure and cultural economy.

The geography of shoplifting in a British city: Evidence from Cardiff

Abstract This empirical paper examines the under-researched topic of the spatial and temporal distribution of shoplifting using police crime records for Cardiff city centre in 1993. As recorded shoplifting incidents are a small sample of the whole, the patterns identified and the explanations suggested are necessarily tentative. The ‘opportunities’ offered by particular store types are seen to influence the concentration of shoplifting incidents, which are particularly associated with variety, clothing, department and record stores. The ‘high levels of shopping activity’ in these store types, and their location in the busiest areas of the city centre, emerge as explanatory factors. In addition, shops which front on to the open-street appear more likely to attract shoplifting than those in enclosed malls due to the greater ‘opportunity’ to escape from the former. Shoplifting is also concentrated in the pre-Easter, pre-summer holiday and pre-Christmas holiday seasons; towards the end of the week; and in the late morning and throughout the afternoon. Again, the explanatory significance of ‘high levels of shopping activity’ at these times is suggested. The offenders are shown to be drawn disproportionately from the younger age-groups, and are more likely to be male than the predominantly female shopping population would suggest. The spatial pattern of shoplifting is also influenced by the store types and parts of the city centre which have the greatest appeal for youthful shoplifters, at the times when they are most likely to frequent the shopping centre.