Media Partner Building Design / Supported by Cathedral Group / Ing Media

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Towns and cities have traditionally been centered around institutions (like town halls), retail (in the form of market squares, high streets and so on), and often been fringed by industry. But as this historical model has passed though generations it has been subjected to a range of forces that have altered. As industry has changed for example, the areas of towns and cities that once housed it have been first depleted, then have often found themselves repurposed. Warehouses, for example have a long post-industrial career as artists studios, lofts and incubators for creative industries, places for parties – all manner of uses and activities that were never imagined in their purpose-built lives.

The recent foundation of towns – bricks and mortar retail – has become increasingly less tenable. Economic conditions, the rise of internet shopping and out of town retail parks have all left their mark all too visibly on our communities. Equally development anchored by retail seems doomed before it begins.

Reversals in the polarity of cities is not new: every generation sees a shift. The inter war suburbs moved housing out of the supposed slums of the industrial city, for example only for their children to return in waves of gentrification. The question now, tabled by Martyn Evans of developer Cathedral Group, is what is the future of the post-retail town centre.

How can new uses be found for the streets and squares of our towns and cities? What other activities might flood in to the vacuum that remains? Should we only be fighting to get retail back into our town centers or should we be understanding that it’s time for a complete re-think? How can architects, developers and local authorities shape viable visions of the heart of towns for the 21st century?