Reimagining place – towns and cities post lockdown…

Business Development Director Richard Barrington takes looks at what towns and cities post lockdown could look like.

After a year of working from home I was looking forward to only my second business trip, and due to a couple of hours waiting for a train, thought I’d find somewhere pleasant to eat. I visited London’s premier Shopping Street and was shocked by what I experienced. 

On leaving the tube, the first thing I noticed was how shabby everything seemed. Vacant store fronts, the almost complete lack of green spaces and the foul taste of diesel fumes assailed my senses. There were very few people out and about and the environment felt ‘grubby’ – dusty, dirty, and unwelcoming – perhaps a cause and effect going on here?

As we emerge from over a year of lockdowns, our urban centres and high streets are at the centre of a perfect storm. The collapse in consumer confidence in 2020, coupled with the dramatic shift to online shopping and the impact of social restrictions, has led to swathes of empty storefronts – currently estimated to be 145,000 and counting. People have had to shift their habits, relying on and becoming familiar with online shopping; coupled with the impact of lockdown on mental health and wellbeing from isolation and separation means that people have and may continue to refrain from visiting heavily populated areas.  And now, the reluctance of many workers and employers to go back to the ‘old ways of working’ – daily commutes, cubicles, and concrete – is negatively affecting office occupancy rates as well as the service companies that rely on daily footfall for their income.

This does not just impact high street stores and chains. This also has a major impact on council revenues, with a knock-on effect on public sector ability to invest locally.

We need to ask ourselves some key questions:

• Is there still a place for the high street?
• How do we reimagine urban centres as destinations?
• How do we create places where people want to be, for the buzz, the vibe, the experience, and community?
• How do we develop vibrant spaces where we can enjoy shared experiences and create valued memories?

Perform Green has been working with several cities and towns exploring this tectonic shift, creating strategies to develop “Smart Places”, and helping authorities find ways to use connectivity to reinvigorate the urban centre. We help our clients focus on people, place, environment, culture and experience – to create somewhere where people will want to visit, live, work and play.

These include:

• Developing smart mobility strategies to improve air quality and reduce congestion to put people rather than vehicles at the heart of ‘place’, and repurpose freed space into mini parks, reducing ambient temperatures and further improve air quality and wellbeing
• Using technology to better manage waste to keep our communities cleaner
• Using sensors to monitor biodiversity helping make places greener
• Using 5G and the opportunities it brings to enhance visitor experience – the arts, heritage and culture
• Understanding the way technology can better manage the built environment to improve safety and accessibility

We believe that everyone should be focused on creating a green and smart society – and that is our mission as a company – one that is human in scale and experience, one where people feel part of the story not apart from their environment.

One example if I may:  During the pandemic, my local town Shaftesbury in Dorset has ‘removed’ through traffic from the high street 9-4pm.  This has led to 5 new stores opening and an 80%+ approval rating from retailers and citizens alike as people have space to wander in a clean safe environment.