Tiny change would be a real lifeline - Saving town and city centres

ONE of the least effective exercises we sometimes commit to is trying, Canute-like, to hold back the tide of evolution, though it is always valid, and wise, to wonder if evolution is actually progress. The changing face of our cities, the social and commercial hollowing out of so many towns or villages, shows that one man’s progress is another man’s poison. The commercial consequences are significant but, in the longer term, the social, cultural, and environmental changes may be felt all the more sharply.

Too many streets in our cities and towns are pock-marked with too many shuttered buildings that once housed thriving businesses. The situation above street level is at least as bad, where space is slipping towards dilapidation and redundancy. Buildings that once supported the owner’s family and their employees are empty, unprofitable liabilities succumbing to dereliction. They are liabilities for neighbours, too, creating an atmosphere of decay and defeat hardly conducive to an attractive or even sustainable retail environment.