The report of my death is an exaggeration: central city retailing in Melbourne since 1900
In most North American cities, the Central Business District has declined as a retail centre, from a historical position of absolute dominance. In many US metropolitan areas, the CBD is no longer the largest single retail centre; in most others, it is merely primus inter pares. It is generally assumed that a similar process has been at work in Melbourne and other Australian cities, as suburban sprawl and the rise of the motor car have reduced the relative accessibility of the centre. This proposition is evaluated by analysing historical and statistical sources of information about the distribution of the retail trade in Melbourne. The evidence appears to be that Melbourne's CBD was relatively weak at the turn of the century, but steadily increased in importance, eclipsing suburban rivals, until World War II or shortly afterwards. Since that time, there has been a relative decline, but Melbourne's CBD retains a greater significance in the metropolitan retail trade than is the case in other Australian and N...
Retail concentration: a comparison of spatial convenience in shopping strips and shopping centres
Abstract The emergence of the Internet and a more discerning consumer has created the need for traditional retail centres to provide a more convenient shopping environment. A retail centre offers convenience when it minimises the spatial, temporal and effort costs of shopping. Existing strategies for spatial convenience include limiting the size of a retail centre by controlling the entry of non-retail firms, creating a compact physical design, and creating compatible clusters of shops. The authors’ propose an alternative method; the degree of retail concentration. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which shopping centres (also referred to as shopping malls) and shopping strips (also referred to as the high street, downtown or city centre) provide retail concentration. From the measures taken, this study provides insight into the degree of retail concentration offered by a sample of nine shopping centres (also referred to as a shopping mall) and nine shopping strips (also referred to as the high street, downtown or city centre). The findings yielded three important insights. Firstly, across the three measures of retail concentration, the shopping centre was found to offer consumers’ greater spatial convenience. Secondly, the findings add support to the notion that the demise of the shopping strip could be linked to its inability to satisfy the needs of a convenience-oriented society. And thirdly, while the shopping strip may be at a competitive disadvantage in terms of spatial convenience, market mechanisms such as Bid Rent Theory provided a better-than-expected spatial juxta-positioning of its businesses.
The changing demography of the central city
A term that has been applied to describe what has happened too many metropolitan areas of the U.S. since World War II is "doughnut complex." In many places the hole in the doughnut is a decaying central city and the ring is a prosperous and growing suburban and exurban region. In a few major municipalities such as New York the hole is a core area of the city that is being revitalized and the ring is a surrounding part of the city that is becoming increasingly blighted; the central-city doughnut is surrounded by the usual prosperous suburban area. The question of what to do about the decay of central cities or major parts of them has occupied the attention of local state and Federal officials and of specialists in urban planning. Policies such as urban renewal subsidized housing and aid to mass transit have been tried to a limited degree and with limited success. Some observers see "gentrification" and the possibility of chronic gasoline shortages as forces that might revivify the central cities. Gentrification is the refurbishing of central-city neighborhoods such as Brooklyn Heights in New York and Georgetown in Washington by people who are well educated and well-to-do. It certainly has affected parts of some cities but the statistics show that it is a minuscule trend compared with the other forces affecting cities. Whether severe and chronic gasoline shortages would impel a large back-to-the-city movement remains to be seen although in a strongly automobile-oriented society other alternatives seem likelier. Our purpose here is to examine the statistics that reflect the position of the cities and to consider what might be done about the doughnut-complex phenomenon. (excerpt)