The future of cities

A thought for a Friday... these two images speak volumes about the future of cities. Copied from A Manifesto for Sustainable Cities: Think Local, Act Global (Gaines, J & Jager, S) 2009

(Largest cities and urban areas in 2020 (in millions) 

(Largest cities in the world today ranked by area - km2)

The future of the High Street: a tale of two record shops

The demise of HMV last week was a stark reminder of how much has changed on the British High Street in such a small period of time.  How we purchase music is a useful lens through which we can understand what is happening to our town centres and potentially what the solutions might be.

Previously, before the days when we could buy music online, we feared for the survival of independent record shops who were being squeezed out of existence by the corporate behemoths of HMV, Virgin Megastore and Borders. Now, however, there is no longer a recognisable High Street multiple shop that specialises in music, and this says an awful lot about how we have transferred our music consumption and indeed our broader shopping habits from the High Street to the internet.

HMV represented the last major chain High Street music shop

The threat faced by small record shops in the early noughties was highlighted by the then-seminal Clone Town Britain report, published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in 2004 and updated in 2010. These publications lamented the loss of identity and the destruction of local distinctiveness by the gradual take-over of town centres by national chains. These concerns seem strangely anachronistic from the far more perilous situation that High Streets face in 2013. Many people in the UK would just be happy with a full town centre in 2013, never mind worrying about whether the shops were local or not.

The retreat of retail from High Streets is alarming when when one considers the recent figures from the Centre for Retail Research. Since 2007:

•   231 retailers have ceased to trade

•   23,284 stores have closed

•   209,127 jobs have been lost

These figures include well known names such as: Comet, JJB Sports, Game, Borders, Barratts, T J Hughes, Jane Norman, Habitat, Focus DIY, Floors-2-Go, the Officers Club, Oddbins, Ethel Austin, Faith Shoes, Jessops, Adams Childrenswear, Principles, Sofa Workshop, Allied Carpets, Viyella, Dewhursts, Woolworths, MFI, and Zavvi/Virgin Megastore, Peacocks and now HMV.

One of the many reasons for these casualties is that the business model for retail has been transformed by the maturity of internet shopping. After many years of trying, retailers have  finally learned how to sell things to people online just at the same time that the world seemed to switch from ugly beige desktop computers tucked away in spare bedrooms to laptops and then to smartphones and tablets which could be used from the comfort of the sofa. Clearly, this shift to web based purchasing (as well as theft!) of music has hit the multiple record shops hard.

This has meant that we have seen a substantial erosion of the commercial base of the average High Street. The loss is staggering and the Centre for Retail Research figures do not include the downsizing of big name retailers such as Mothercare and Thorntons who seem to have drawn the Siegfried Line at the provincial cities (such as Cardiff) and out of town locations to make sure they do not become the next casualty. This additional pressure is leaving the traditional High Street in many towns with a highly questionable commercial proposition.

Rather than take over our High Streets and diminish High Street distinctiveness as NEF feared, the retreat of multiples has actually created a kind of dispiriting void which, in many towns won't be filled by retail at any time for the foreseeable future.  Record shops were probably one of the first sectors of the High Street to be affected by changing consumer trends so perhaps other small retailers, Local Authorities, regeneration practitioners and policy makers can learn from record shop owners?

What is impressive is the way that, as a sub-sector, independent record shops have banded together. Between them they have gradually nurtured within their customers an intense loyalty. This is perfectly illustrated in the growing success of the annual National Record Store Day which has grown into a celebration of these stores, the service that they offer (which can’t be matched online or in a supermarket) and a way of promoting the virtues of the immersive ‘in-store experience’.

Independent record stores are taking innovative steps to attract new business and foster a sense of loyalty

Moreover, independent record stores have focused on a niche by concentrating on selling vinyl and not singles, games or DVDs. Critically, the indie record shops have met the specific needs of their (often knowledgeable) walk-in customers, whilst supplementing this with online sales to create an offer that is gaining, rather than losing, momentum and has outlasted its corporate rivals.

Whilst most successful High Streets require a good balance of independent businesses and national chains to be successful there is much that can be achieved from small businesses when they work collectively, collaboratively and imaginatively.

What is interesting is that these traders have targeted the quality of the experience, both in bricks and mortar experience, online experience and the social media campaigns that remind people they are still there.

Perhaps this progressive approach by one group of retailers could be broadened throughout whole towns to create a culture of regeneration that depends upon on collective, collaborative and imaginative initiatives? Certainly a ‘whole town’ approach that promotes the importance of the experience at every level is going to be something that flourishing town centres will all have in common. Those that can’t grasp this, I’m afraid will go the same way as HMV.

The Contribution of Shopfronts

The Urbanists’ involvement in several shopfront enhancement schemes over recent years has led us to consider the issues surrounding, and benefits of, this type of regeneration work.

Is there an approach to supplement the process of reinventing our high streets via the frequently cited methods of establishing free parking, easy access to the shops, reducing business rates and limiting the number of national chains?

An ever-increasing offer from out of town shopping complexes and supermarkets as well as the repetition of national brands in the town centres, quoining the phrase ‘clone town’, has undoubtedly accentuated the decline of the identity of the High Street.

The term 'clone town' often refers to the uses and retailers that occupy them, but could the term also be adopted to refer to their visual appearance?  With town centres containing many of the same shops there can be a danger of visual homogenisation and, in some cases, shopfront enhancements can compound rather than address the problem.  

Many of our traditional high streets were principally developed during the Georgian and Victorian periods and conservation led regeneration projects often aim to return shops to their ‘original’ state.  Whilst there is a vital place for the gentle restoration approach to high street regeneration, there is a danger that blindly following this approach may further magnify the problem of the clone town, with pastiche shopfronts being as unidentifiably 'local' to a particular place as the national retailer sitting behind them.

Whilst there are issues with national retailers occupying large portions of the high street, there are also benefits for independent retailers in having ‘well known’ neighbours through increased footfall and the attraction of a wider audience.  Therefore the loss of any retailer can leave the high street vulnerable to a lack of local identity.    

Shopfront regeneration in town centres can be overlooked for its part in reinventing how high streets function as community assets.  Developing a character of the place rather than of a time, alongside a holistic street or town wide strategy focused on a set of community specific functions, may help to cement a genuine local identity.

Take Camden High Street as an example. Terraces of traditional Georgian townhouses take on a unique, vibrant and youthful character, instantly recognisable as Camden without damaging the quality and rhythm of the original block. This simple, and largely cosmetic, approach could be echoed in other high streets by taking cues from local assets such as heritage, culture and function.

Camden High Street (Image from  www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniesadler/)

Perhaps this may be achieved by promoting an architectural language, which not only compliments the historic and local context of the place but also meets the requirements of a modern society. 

Tales from a Mega City

I’ve been fortunate to have visited some of the World’s mega-cities, like: London, Delhi, Lima, Rio de Janerio, but last week I was working in Chongqing in Western China. It’s not the obvious place that springs to mind when you think of the new cities that have sprouted as the BRIC countries transformed from agricultural to urban societies.

In fact Chongqing, although almost anonymous in the West, is predicted to be in the top ten of Most Dynamic Cities of 2025 (McKinsey Global Institute, 2010) based on the fact that it achieved a 418% growth in GDP in 2010. With its population of 15.7million (based on 2010 figures) it is one of the fastest growing and most dynamic cities on the planet. What is really staggering is that thirteen of McKinsey’s predicted top twenty cities are Chinese.

It is because of this startling growth that Chongqing feels different to the other global mega-cities that I have been to. All of the others have developed, to some degree, incrementally. Apart from very special historic buildings, there was no evidence in Chongqing of any districts or urban blocks that were older than 1990, whereas Rio and Delhi bear evidence of colonial post-war urbanism. 

Chongqing is growing so quickly it almost seems that there is a skyscraper and LED arms race currently enveloping the city (see video). 

Development on this scale is presenting China with some unique challenges. The contrast between town and country is stark and urban designers working in China will need to understand how to manage places, as well as build them.

By
James

A Chinese Balance of Progress and Protection

We are currently supporting a prominent Chinese consultancy to help them prepare several disaster recovery master plans that will rehouse people in the Yunnan region of the County following devastating earthquakes earlier this year. Let's just say its been a bit of an eye opener.

The day started with an update on progress with local officials in the Council Chamber. The officials, including the chief planner and local mayor are under a lot of pressure to re-house 2,500 people of this mountainous rural region. The Chinese PM visited the disaster zone in the aftermath of the quake and it seems probable that promises were have been made to get those people still living in tents into homes by the end of the year. As you'd imagine, it's all being done at a relentless pace. This isn't a temporary fix either. It'll be permanent and makes me wonder if it is really possible to create enduring places under such time pressured duress?

My pre-conceptions of the sites were, lets be honest here, way off. That said, my presentation to the officials, delivered through an interpreter, found favour by the notion of using the water present on one site as the key structuring element. I didn't realise until I got there that it was a paddy field! 

The journey to the site visit was unforgettable. White knuckles and crossed fingers weren't going to be much help if another landslide hit the boulder strewn mountain path that we were bouncing along in a robust looking Chinese 4X4 vehicle.

But the nervous journey was worth it. The climb out of the long steep gorge revealed a hidden upland plateaux framed by a monumentous V-shaped valley at a scale that would not be out of place in the Lord of the Rings. Into this scene farmers were gathering the last of the harvest. Despite the natural calamity, it looked like it had been a good year for them as they carried their rice, chillies, chard, pumpkins, potato and pak choi into their winter stores. Into this rural idyll crashed the notion that five hundred homes, a health club, a conference centre and a hotel were being planned for this wide natural floodplain high up in the Yunnan mountains. 

Perhaps most worryingly was the notion of a shift in lifestyle. The homeless farmers of the valley as well as those from neighbouring areas who were being rehoused into the new village would be encouraged to scale back their farming and take up jobs in the nearby leisure facilities. After all, this kind of peasant lifestyle is backward. Right?

I understand that people need to be housed, but I tried to convey to my Chinese colleagues a notion that we raised in the previous post (below). Authenticity. I wanted them to think about solutions to the problem that weren't just another part of the national trend of urbanisation. Could we create something soft, something respectful and enduring that worked with the peace of the place? Perhaps something that didn't feel quite so urban but a settlement that was rooted in the landscape, culture and language of these minority communities?

Urbanisation seems to be progress personified in China. Whilst we can only marvel at some inspiring global mega cities that are being created I fear that there are also some very delicate and special places that are being lost forever.

By James

The Significance of 'Place'

Sense of place, authenticity, branding and creativity.  

These are some of the themes that emerged from two conferences sponsored and attended by The Urbanists last week.

The International Maritime Heritage Conference in Cardiff explored the value of maritime heritage for the tourism industry in different locations around the world.  For the tourism industry, where a large part of the product is 'place', it seems logical that ‘place making’ is at the heart of strategies for growth.  But what was striking about the conference was the consistent message that the essence of a sense of place must be combined with creativity and expressed consistently to be effective.

Alan Clarke, CEO of Northern Ireland Tourist Board, suggested that cities need to be defined more and more by their stories, and went on to explain how this had been developed in 'Titanic Town' Belfast which has attracted over 500,000 visitors in its opening six months.  Similarly Steve White, President of Mystic Seaport, The Museum of America and the Sea, referred to their shift from 'preserving' their maritime heritage to 'projecting' it to their visitors.  Visitor experience is key and at the heart of this must be an authentic and consistent message.  In this case branding is relates to the overall message and 'mindset' rather than the material that is put out to visitors.

These themes are not confined to capitalising on maritime heritage.  Indeed on the same day the annual Urban Design Group Conference in Oxford was debating the value of good design in face of the current challenging economic climate.  Here it was suggested that place making is an investment and should be treated as such in the allocation of time, funding and expertise. And it's the same message for our town centres; place making that responds to the unique characteristics of the location, its history and its people.

Neal's Yard, Covent Garden: form, creativity, activity and meaning produce a strong sense of place

There is a consistent message that the value of place making is as great as ever but also that the challenge of defining and capitalising on it should not be underestimated.   As urban designers we must continue to strive to create places of distinction and not blandness, safe in the knowledge that it does make a difference.  But we must not do it alone.  People are an important component of place and we must collaborate with local champions to foster greater authenticity and creative influences to interpret ideas.  

By Jen

Newport Superdragons

By Lauren Brown

A Public art initiative in Newport City Centre known as ‘Newport Superdragons’ first came to light in 2010 during a summer of activities based around the Ryder Cup. Artists were selected to each design their own Superdragon which would in turn be applied to a readymade fibreglass dragon sculpture. The project was a great success attracting visitors and local to follow the Superdragon Trail. At the end of the summer festival the Superdragons were auctioned off with the money going to charity and the successful bidder free to do with their dragon as they pleased!

Public art is something i have a general interest in and more importantly, something that the Urbanists feel is an important part of the townscape. We often suggest public art, be it temporary or permanent as a good way of engaging local people whilst injecting colour, interest and culture into streets and spaces.  I wanted to experience, first hand, the process behind a public art project – so i got involved and designed my very own Superdragon - my submitted design was successful and a 5ft fibreglass dragon was mine!

My dragon and many others were kept in an empty shop in the centre of Newport which acted as a public exhibition and workshop space. This was a successful approach which meant that artists could work together, establishing a creative community and members of the public could engage with the design process.

The most important part of the process which enables it to be successful is mostly centred around appropriate marketing of the project and retaining high levels of public engagement throughout. Allowing local businesses the opportunity to sponsor a dragon means that there are multiple levels of interest in the project. It appears that the Newport Superdragons are now becoming a tourist attraction in their own right and have generated increased visitors into Newport City Centre.

It’s astonishing how every single dragon is completely unique, with very few displaying any similar characteristics what so ever.  The 60 personalities are now dotted around Newport City Centre and have added vitality, colour, character and interest to our streets and spaces.

Evolution of the superdragon

Mine was sponsored by the South Wales Argus (argus news story) due its very strong connections with Newport. The dragon features an abstract street map of Newport highlighting key buildings, landmarks and features within the city centre. The plan cross references to photographs and sketches of a selection of the city’s most impressive historical and contemporary architecture. It was very time consuming but i thoroughly enjoyed the process and the amount of appreciation i received for the finished piece. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at Superdragons 3 and potentially other similar projects in the near future! 

By Lauren