A new report, The Past, Present and Futures of the High Street, concludes that “Despite the obituaries the high street is still very much alive. High streets have proved resilient, surviving centuries of social change to remain the functional centre of most towns and cities.”
Looking to the future the report calls for a number of actions, including for “the economic and the social value of high streets need to be measured and represented better, and communicated clearly to investors and decision-makers” and adds that “the future of the high street is an international issue, and an international research agenda is needed to help understand and address common problems.”
The Past, Present and Futures of the High Street is the report on the closing conference of the Adaptable Suburbs project, the culmination of four years’ research (by The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London) into the factors that influence the success of town centres.
The Adaptable Suburbs research project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Council, studied outer London town centres, analysing changes in land use, built form and street networks from the 19th century to the present day. It “aimed to understand how suburban high streets have changed and adapted over time, and the role played by spatial movement and social interaction in their development.”
A summary of the report:
- Despite the obituaries the high street is still very much alive. High streets have proved resilient, surviving centuries of social change to remain the functional centre of most towns and cities.
- High streets have changed in order to survive but, while buildings and businesses may be different, the mix of uses has remained very similar. This mix is essential to a successful high street.
- Cities function as movement networks, and because movement creates activity it determines whether high streets succeed or fail. If pedestrians and traffic are diverted away, high streets wither and die.
- High streets are poorly understood, but they represent a combination of complex influences creating enormous economic and social benefit, which is both under-recognised and undervalued. They are an asset that we need to appreciate, and to invest in.
- High streets are threatened by poor planning. Standard planning definitions of high streets miss out large areas of business and other non-domestic activity. This leaves them unprotected, and pressure to convert commercial premises to residential use could permanently undermine their viability.
- Not all high streets are healthy. Many are suffering and will need intervention and investment to support them. Policy should focus on bringing people back to high streets, generating the activity needed to support businesses.
- Planners and policymakers need to take ordinary, small-scale high street uses more seriously. Ignoring small businesses and local activities means ignoring the important social role they play and the people who make a living through them.
- Both the economic and the social value of high streets need to be measured and represented better, and communicated clearly to investors and decision-makers.
- The future of the high street is an international issue, and an international research agenda is needed to help understand and address common problems.
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