Jones, S, Newing, A orcid.org/0000-0002-3222-6640 and Orford, S (2022) Understanding Town Centre Performance in Wales: Using GIS to Develop a Tool for Benchmarking. Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 15 (3). pp. 713-740. ISSN 1874-463X
Abstract
Welsh Government policy establishes town centres as central places of community activity and local prosperity, recognising the positive impact towns have on the local economy and the well-being and cohesion felt amongst local communities. In light of this, recent declines in the usage of town centres are a major cause for concern. These have not been experienced uniformly across all towns, with some towns out-performing others. This paper applies principles outlined in Welsh Government’s Planning Policy Wales to develop a tool which classifies a sample of 71 towns and cities in Wales based on their centre and catchment characteristics. Catchment areas have been delineated using a Spatial Interaction Model to account for complex consumer behaviours and competition between centres. The tool identifies six distinct types of towns alongside key socio-economic catchment area characteristics. Once developed, we demonstrate our tool’s application by exploring variations in town centre performance between and within each town type. Case study examples exemplify how policymakers may use this tool to benchmark between towns, evaluating the suitability of a town’s retail offering based on its performance relative to the benchmark, guiding decisions relating to the types of businesses and uses a town should pursue to improve its appeal to its catchment community. In conclusion, several recommendations to policymakers are suggested.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Benchmarking; k-Means clustering; Spatial interaction modelling; Town centres; Typology; Wales |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Centre for Spatial Analysis & Policy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 11 Aug 2021 12:10 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:44 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s12061-021-09417-z |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:176984 |