the high street: ten questions

every town team should ask

just what do we mean by the high street anyway?

Q1

‘The days of a high street populated simply by independent butchers, bakers and candlestick

makers are, except in the most exceptional circumstances, over.’

Mary Portas, December 2011

what are our high streets for? how do they relate to the

wider area?

Q2

‘No two town centres or high streets are the same. As a result,

the way in which they are affected by and respond to change is

diverse and varied.’

Genecon, Understanding High Street Performance, December 2011

‘As the hub of our communities, the high street could become the place where we begin to build a

more sustainable world.’

new economics foundation, Re-imagining the High Street, 2010

what’s happening to our high streets and why?

Q3

‘There is a concern that the High Street shopping environment to

which society has grown accustomed... is changing and we are not sure whether we will like

either how it will change or what it will be changed to.’

John Dawson, 1988

‘25% of high street and shopping centre leases are due to expire by 2013 and 50% by 2015... the next 24 months are likely to see a swift and dramatic playing out of this

polarisation.’

Jones Lang LaSalle, January 2012

what do people really love to do in our high streets?

Q4

‘If you asked people 20 years ago why they came into the city, they

would have said it was to shop. But if you ask them today, they would say it was because they wanted to

go into town.’

Jan Gehl, Cities for People

‘High streets and town centres that are fit for the 21st century need to be multifunctional social centres,

not simply competitors for stretched consumers.’

The 21st Century Agora: a new and better vision for town centres

whose responsibility is the high street?

Q5

‘The public sector alone cannot create vibrant high streets,

however hard they try... together everybody is going to have to give a little bit to help our high streets

to be vibrant and successful.’

Mary Portas, December 2011

what are our responsibilities for the high street?

Q6

‘Placemaking... requires community members to be at the centre of planning. The outcome

has to be theirs.’

Fred Kent, Project for Public Spaces, September 2011

do our actions deal with symptoms or with causes?

Q7

‘This place would be a lot more popular if it wasn’t so crowded.’

Anonymous, Durham

do we have the tools to help us adapt to global change?

Q8

‘We are liquidating the earth’s natural resources to fuel our

consumption. Half of us live in countries where water tables are falling... soil erosion exceeds soil

formation on one third of the world’s cropland...’

Lester Brown, World on the Edge, 2011

do we have the will to adapt to global change?

Q9

‘The UK is already vulnerable to severe weather, including flooding and heatwaves.

Continued action is needed to manage these risks...’

Defra, UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2012

will we let bad things happen because we lack the courage

to insist on good things?

Q10

‘In the UK, the free-standing, car-based, food superstore is

now the hegemonic retail format.’

Hallsworth et al, 2010

four ways of thinking about getting the town centres we

want:

1 Footfall2 Satisfaction

3 Diversity4 Economic activity

what steps will get us from here to there... and will there be a ‘there’ when we arrive?

& finay

thank you

more from me...www.urbanpollinators.co.uk

my blog: Living with Rats

Twitter: @juliandobson