Adapt or die! Our city centres must evolve in order to survive

By Paul Benton

Paul is an educational support worker and freelance writer from Peterborough, UK. In this lively and thought-provoking piece, he argues that our city centres must evolve in order to survive. In response to changes in work patterns, shopping habits, social life and housing, he calls for a progressive yet pragmatic approach to urban planning – one that embraces change rather than resisting it.

Evolution isn't just biological—it’s also sociological. And just as some deny biological evolution, many push back against sociological change. Put simply: times change!

Habits are changing, but conservative-minded folks don’t like it. More people are working from home – how dare they manage to have a good work/life balance and save money on transport? More people are shopping online too – how dare they order something at 11pm when they get home from shift work? Such habit changes have been blamed for killing off the High Street and city centres. Mary of Peterborough puts the decline in her home city to “John Lewis closing – it was always busy”. Being “always busy” of course is a better business case for John Lewis staying in Peterborough than official sales figures and profit margins. Social media is awash with such expert business analysis – why hasn’t John Lewis given Mary a job in finance? Another common cry is “out of town retail parks have killed town centres”. Well, maybe they haven’t helped, but shopping habits have changed – evolved if you will – and that needs to be acknowledged not resisted. Adapt or die is the mantra I prefer – or, even better, evolve or die! People do like to do their shopping in one place – I for one hate the whole retail experience, so the less time spent on it the better. Therefore, yes, I’ll choose a supermarket over three or four different shops every time.

It must be said that there are other factors at play in the decline of city centre use: banks are shutting up branches as more people move online for their transactions and cash is used less and less. Personally, I prefer to use my card or phone rather than carrying around lots of notes or loose change that’s easily lost. But I do wish our ultra-rich banks would give small businesses card machines for free and not charge them for electronic transactions. Unfortunately, the decline of pubs and clubs is having an effect too!

I think that developers should be looking at repurposing disused shops into living spaces. Building upwards (within reason) instead of building outwards is better from an environmental perspective – as is bringing abandoned buildings back into use. Why keep concreting over our countryside when we have so many empty shops, banks and offices? And it also means that we get a good mixture of the old and new – to convert a building into homes, you do not need to change the exterior’s architecture any more than removing the “Body Bits the Butcher” signage. For those who do like physical banks, Post Offices and libraries, why not combine more of them in one building – community “hubs” can be a cost effective alternative, offering basic services when separate banks, post offices and libraries are no longer viable. I do wish big businesses would consider such moves.

Of course, I want to see independent businesses thrive, and I also want pubs to stay open and expand. However, many independent shops now operate solely online—it's simply cheaper. They avoid the costs of premises, upkeep, and business rates. But still, there’s no reason why some shops and pubs can’t continue to play a vital role in residential neighbourhoods and city centres alike. What matters is ensuring that our built environment includes space for them, not just in commercial zones but in the heart of communities. Many shops already have living spaces above them – as do many pubs. Offices, too, can be quite easily converted into living spaces (this happened to the former newspaper offices in Peterborough for instance). But what about the noise? Yes, pubs can be noisy places – but, as mentioned, many people do already live next door to one. Modern soundproofing and a little consideration can rapidly resolve such issues. Indeed, on the shop front, I used to rent a flat above a newsagents – it was very convenient, but would have been even better if there had been a record shop next door.

We have seen a huge number of pubs shut their doors for good over the past few years. Maybe having more people living near our remaining pubs would help to stem this decline? It’s true that young people are shunning alcohol and living healthier lifestyles, but my local has an alcohol-free lager on tap that’s very nice! It is all about diversifying (and publicising the fact widely) – and that’s exactly what I think town centres should also be doing. This comes back (again) to evolving ideas – moving on and progressing.

Not a day goes by without an MP, councillor, or Joy from up the road complaining about new gambling or “adult gaming” establishments opening up. As shopping habits change, something has to replace redundant retail spaces. Wouldn’t homes be a better solution than turning us into a nation of gamblers? However, here it has to be acknowledged that supply and demand are at work and if people were not using gambling shops then they wouldn’t remain open. However contentious the building of flats can be, gambling establishments are even more so. Would people really prefer to see the countryside bulldozed rather than moving people into town and city centres?

Of course, these living spaces have to be affordable. They will, naturally, be close to many local amenities (especially if they’re near to both shops and a pub), thus turning them into high-demand homes before they’re even built! Yet everybody should have the right to live anywhere, therefore a mixture of high-quality affordable home and upper-end homes should be considered in my idealistic outlook.