With reference to one or more examples evaluate the success of redevelopment of urban centres in response to recent trends in retailing

With reference to one or more examples evaluate the success of redevelopment of urban centres in response to recent trends in retailing (10 marks)

Redevelopment of urban centres have been a result of recent trends in retailing, Since the 1970s there has been a phenomenon known as decentralization occurring in relation to retail. Decentralization is ‘the movement of people and employment from large dominant centres to a more dispersed pattern of locations’, in result of this it introduced large shopping centres in the 1980’s, this has occurred through the increased car ownership and transport links which has made it easier to visit other places. In addition to this, trends in retailing has also adjusted as more families have a higher disposable income and have more leisure time to actually have day trips to out of town centres. However, as result of this, this has led to a decline in towns and local communities as Out of town shopping centres are becoming more attractive as they are more convenient as all shops are under one roof. A further, and more recent development is the advent of ‘e-commerce’ which has occurred since the late 1990s and boomed in the mid-2000s. This has allowed many stores to slash overheads by removing themselves from the high-street while developing a strong online presence. Instead of having stores, they now only need warehouse depots to store goods whilst they are sold online. An example of a town centre, which had to adjust to recent trends in retailing such as out of town shopping centre, is Touchwood, Birmingham as to when Merry Hill (out of town shopping centre) was built, it resulted in decline in the town centre. Merry Hill was built in 1984-89 providing a 2 levels of shopping with an average of 21 million customers each year, the result on surrounding areas included abandoned town centres, downturn in local trade and environment. However, in 2001 Touchwood, Solihul was built to attract the locals back into the local community to avoid town becoming abandoned and prevent job loss. The success of the development in Touchwood included 2,000 jobs and became UK retail destination of the year. The reason for the construction included reflection of architectural features and the heritage of Sohil, this would be an advantage for Touchwood as it would be a attractive historical town to visit, increasing visitors and potential income. The Centre as a result successfully improved the neighbouring facilities with elegant malls, green environments for the community to enjoy. Touchwood is also committed to providing Solihul and the wider region with an attractive and vibrant range of stores, providing the only John Lewis store in the midlands, which would encourage visitors to visit the store and the redevelopment. Touchwood has also hosted fashion shows and events to pursuit the redevelopment of Sohiul to attract customers into the area. However despite this, there is no evidence to support the initial improvement from the redevelopment such as data previous and afterwards to compare the success of the project. However, overall I believe the project has been successful as it enabled the town centre to be more visually appealing by integrating existing architecture as well as providing services and events which would invite locals into the town centre as the increase availability of shops would be more convenient for customers.