Urban Sociology deals very much with the development of inner cities. The Chicago School of Urban Sociology is famous for its approach about the subject. Aspects such as social alienation, class formation, stratification, production and destruction of collectives, and individual indentitties are important factors of the field. But I do miss the economic and business part of it. Shopping streets for example are an important part of inner cities and play an important role. If you want to build a succesful shopping street, which are the components of that? Is there a theory? Are there important studies about this subject?
Hello Rudy!
You called a very interesting research topic. Studies you are demanding are unknown to me. But I suppose in the field of Urban Geography maybe you can find case studies of the structuration and development of commercial landuse in innerurban precincts. As an urban planner I consider it is a complex mixture of attractions needed, such as accessibility in public transport on the one hand and for logistics on the other hand, an urban fabric which is sympathetic to the visitors, a quality of rest without the pressure of doing big consumptions and some frequency bringers have to be settled. Essential are comfortable pathes for pedestrians, so that there are no dangers for your children or elderly or handicapped people. Than you can gain a frequency of visitors which are becoming immediatly or later customers. Look at the places you will visit, if you would be in inner towns of London, Paris, Berlin or Vienna. But look also to smaller town centers in suburban areas which give you the feeling of a village market place.
You can create preconditions for a positive change, but I guess it is hardly possible planning the success. A general lack to tackle with: there is no daily and strategic management like in big shopping centres and you have to cope with a lot of very different players to address.
Good luck!
Heinz Dörr (Vienna)
Hello Rudy!
You called a very interesting research topic. Studies you are demanding are unknown to me. But I suppose in the field of Urban Geography maybe you can find case studies of the structuration and development of commercial landuse in innerurban precincts. As an urban planner I consider it is a complex mixture of attractions needed, such as accessibility in public transport on the one hand and for logistics on the other hand, an urban fabric which is sympathetic to the visitors, a quality of rest without the pressure of doing big consumptions and some frequency bringers have to be settled. Essential are comfortable pathes for pedestrians, so that there are no dangers for your children or elderly or handicapped people. Than you can gain a frequency of visitors which are becoming immediatly or later customers. Look at the places you will visit, if you would be in inner towns of London, Paris, Berlin or Vienna. But look also to smaller town centers in suburban areas which give you the feeling of a village market place.
You can create preconditions for a positive change, but I guess it is hardly possible planning the success. A general lack to tackle with: there is no daily and strategic management like in big shopping centres and you have to cope with a lot of very different players to address.
Good luck!
Heinz Dörr (Vienna)
Thanks Hans,
I have found a book about ‘Urban Core and Inner City’ by prof Hans D. de Vries and others, with some useful information. It is the proceedings of an international study week from 1966 in Amsterdam. That is long ago. And some commercial banks have reports about shopping streets and of course on the internet you can find descriptions about different famous shopping streets such as Fifth Avenue (New York), Causeway Bay (Hongkong), Ginza (Tokio), Pitt Street (Autralia) and Champs-Elysees) and a lot of others. But I can’t find any scientific study about how to compose/design succesful shopping streets and which are the important elements of it. So I keep looking and keep asking. And I’ll try to look in your suggested direction of Urban Geography and also Urban Sociology. It is a topic for urban planners and architects. I think governmental agencies about urban planning must have some studies. The composition of successful shopping streets contains aspects such as social, technological, economic, environmental and political. Maybe there are more suggestions coming.
Rudi
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Hallo Rudi,
Recently I came across the web page of Main Street Center, USA, which subsidizes revitalization programs in the US related to main streets. Looking briefly trough it I saw that some of them include the studies on commercial profile and try to form adequate strategies. Under the link I attach you can see a map with plenty locations and info about them. Maybe you find it helpful or at least interesting.
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/about-main-street/the-programs/#.VcnbEPntlBd
Best, Magdalena.
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