Better streets and retail performance

Aims and method:

Presents evidence that investment in better streets and places can deliver commercial returns to businesses and investors, as well as improve consumer’s perceptions of high streets. A comprehensive review of the literature was carried out to locate all relevant studies and grey literature.

Key findings:

· Making places better for walking can boost footfall and trading by up to 40%

· Good urban design can raise retail rents by up to 20%

· Comparisons of spending by transport mode in Canada and New Zealand revealed that pedestrians spent up to six-times more than people arriving by car. In London town centres in 2011, walkers spent £147 more per month than those travelling by car;

· Retailers often overate the importance of the car; a study in Graz (Austria), subsequently repeated in Bristol (UK) found that retailers overestimated the number of customers arriving by car by almost 100%

· Landowners and retailers are willing to pay to improve the streetscape in order to attract tenants and customers.

Reference:

Lawlor, E. (2013). The pedestrian pound: the business case for better streets and places. London: Living Streets.

https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/media/1391/pedestrianpound_fullreport_web.pdf

High street economic opportunities

Aims and method:

Asks what is the value of high streets for London and how can their regeneration meet the needs of all Londoner’s in a more equitable fashion. A mix of approaches is used, including a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods: primary research involving surveys and interviews with traders, high street visitors and other stakeholders; observational analysis of high streets; secondary research using GLA data analysis and GIS data sets; and a review of existing literature.

Key findings:

· 47% of businesses outside Central London are on a high street and 1.45 million employees work on or within 200 metres of a high street, and this number is growing.

· 45% of surveyed users’ primary high street use was non-retail related – evidence that Londoners value the social exchanges that high streets support. This is especially important for vulnerable groups, particularly the elderly.

· High streets are important gathering spaces for marginalised and under-represented groups. 51% of visitors to high streets are not in employment, compared with 27% across London.

· Almost 40% of small businesses interviewed performed some kind of social function.

· 63% of surveyed users walk to the high street, showing they are accessible and promote healthier, more active modes of transport.

· The economic capacity of high streets is highly adaptive, catering to existing communities and newcomers alike. Opportunities are highly varied, consisting of employment for marginalised Londoners as much as for highly skilled people

Reference:

We Made That & LSE Cities (2017) High Streets for All, London, Greater London Authority

https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/high_streets_for_all_report_web_final.pdf

Economic benefits from investing in streets

Aims and method:

Uses a cross-section of New York City Department of Transport street design projects to discuss the metrics used to evaluate street projects. Draws out key statistics that demonstrate the benefits of investing in streets.

Key findings:

· Establishing bike paths on 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan increased local business retail sales up to 49% compared with 3% borough-wide.

· Expanding walking facilities in Union Square North (Manhattan) reduced commercial vacancies 49%, compared to a 5% increase borough-wide.

· Converting an underused parking lot into a public park on Pearl Street (Brooklyn) increased nearby retail sales volumes by 172%, compared to 18% borough-wide.

· Converting a curb lane into a public seating area on Pearl Street (Manhattan) increased sales volumes at adjacent businesses by 14%.

· Establishing a bus lane and other bus transit improvements on Fordham Road (Bronx) increased nearby retail sales 71% compared to 23% borough-wide.

· Developing bus- and bike-lanes on First and Second Avenue reduced commercial vacancy rates 47%, compared with 2% borough-wide.

Reference:

New York City, Department of Transportation (2012), Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets, New York City Department of Transportation

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2012-10-measuring-the-street.pdf

The value of street-based improvements

Aims and method:

Aimed to gain a proper understanding of the impact of street improvement projects on London’s streets. A mixed research methodology was adopted based on the comparison of five improved and fived unimproved street environments. Data was selected and analysed with a focus on achieving an in-depth understanding of each dimension of an holistic analytical framework including data on physical fabric, movement, exchange and real estate.

Key findings:

·       Improvements to the quality of the publicly owned and managed areas of London’s mixed streets, such as its high streets and town centres, return substantial benefits to the everyday users of streets, and to the occupiers of space and investors in surrounding property in multiple ways

·       A one third uplift in the physical quality of the street as a whole from interventions in the publicly owned street space. 

·       An uplift in office rental values equivalent to an ‘additional’ 4% per annum. 

·       A larger uplift in retail rental values equivalent to an ‘additional’ 7.5% per annum and a strongly related decline in retail vacancy leading to a sizable 17% per annum difference in vacancy rates between improved and unimproved street environments.

·       A growth in leisure uses, and a greater resilience in the improved streets of traditional (A1) and comparison retail; all bucking the trend seen elsewhere. 

·       An almost negligible impact on residential values and inconsequential impacts, from the street improvements alone, on traffic flows or the modal choices made by individuals when travelling, but a reduction in serious or fatal accidents on those streets with higher pre-existing levels of collisions.

·       A large 96% boost in static (e.g. standing, waiting, and sitting) and 93% boost in active (e.g. walking) street behaviours in improved over unimproved areas, with strong potential health benefits in the resulting more active lifestyles. 

·       A particularly large 216% hike in the sorts of leisure based static activities (e.g. stopping at a café or sitting at a bench) that only happen when the quality of the environment is sufficiently conducive to make people wish to stay. 

·       Very strong perceptions amongst both everyday street users and local property occupiers that street improvement schemes significantly enhance street character, walkability, ease of crossing, opportunities for sitting, and general street vibrancy.

Reference:

Carmona, M., Gabrieli, T., Hickman, R., Laopoulou T., Livingstone N., (2017) “Street appeal: the value of street improvements” Progress in Planning.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900617300636

Street-based value in estate regeneration

Aims and method:

Examines the relative merits of two different methods of estate regeneration: block renewal which replaces all existing buildings and an alternative ‘Complete Streets’ model (new streets of terraced housing and mid-rise mansion blocks with the occasional retention and re-use/refurbishment of old blocks, including a mix of uses). The approach models the two approaches on a range of sample sites across London reflecting different densities.

Key findings:

· All types of local authority housing estate renewal in the UK are capable of increasing the number of homes on a hectare of estate land.

· If post-war estates had been built using a streets-based model, an additional 480,000 households could have been housed on them.

· The increase now possible could be 73%, from 78 homes per hectare currently to an average of 135 homes per hectare (plus a variety of neighbourhood, community and commercial premises), provided renewal takes the form of high quality, integrated and permeable urban streetscapes

· Approximately 1,750 hectares of London’s 8,500 hectares of local authority housing estates might be capable of this type of regeneration. This represents an increase over the number of existing homes of between 54,000 and 360,000

Reference:

Savills (2016) “Completing London's Streets; How the regeneration and intensification of housing estates could increase London’s supply of homes and benefit residents”, savills.com, 11 Jan 2016

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjiyY-X19HUAhXmKsAKHQ6yCVwQFggvMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.savills.co.uk%2Fresearch_articles%2F141285%2F198087-0&usg=AFQjCNH_zONb39wQNFwoiljXsnPw0Pq25A

Consumer-leisure amenities and urban growth

Aims and method:

The study examined the relationship between the provision of consumer-leisure amenities and urban development by proposing and validating the number of tourist trips and the number of crowdsourced picturesque locations as measures of consumer revealed preferences for local lifestyle amenities.

Key findings:

·      Urban population growth in the 1990–2010 period was about 10% points higher in a metro area that was perceived as twice as picturesque.

·      “Beautiful cities” disproportionally attracted highly educated individuals and experienced faster housing price appreciation, especially in supply-inelastic markets.

·      In contrast to the generally declining trend of the American central city, neighbourhoods that were close to central recreational districts have experienced economic growth, although at the cost of minority displacement.

Reference:

Carlino, G. A., & Saiz, A. (2019). Beautiful city: Leisure amenities and urban growth. Journal of Regional Science, 59(3), 369–408. 

https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12438