So the future of High Streets. Kind of a serious matter in todays world.
Many people have thrown in their thoughts. There are many ideas out there. From harking back to the good old days and bringing back local, micro communities through to change of use entirely and grassing over every high street in the land, there are many ideas all with their merits.
So we thought we'd throw our ideas in to the mix TYC style.
We under took some customer research around what we all like about shopping. The outcome of which was clear: We are indeed the Mall generation. We love the ease of Mall shopping. The warmth of having a roof over our heads. The ease of a central location. The mass of parking spaces. The onslaught of retail a every single step. And more F&B offers than your stomach can contend with!
So that's fine. Its a consumer shift in behavioural retail interaction. It was always going to happen.
But back to the high street. Why can't it offer the same actions?
Is it too simple to simply stick a roof over it?
Can we dig underground car parks underneath it?
Then integrate the digital with the physical, Minority Report stylie. Make each fascia a digital banner like on a website that interacts with your phone giving you permission marketing alerts.
Use the centre of the street for kiosks and entertainment areas (new rental opportunities for the council).
Every high street already has great public transport links so no need to worry about new infrastructures.
Is this really too simple an idea? Granted there would be challenges with building levels, conservation, permissions, etc but all can be overcome. We can build 95 storey high buildings, dig a brand new underground line under an entire city. Surely this is do-able.
Sometimes its these ideas that get called wacky and ridiculous.
Sometimes they work.
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Photography: Jason Ellison
