Tag Archives: Resilience

Towns, High Streets, Resilience and Place Governance

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Leigh Sparks

I was very pleased to be invited to speak (Trans Pennine Express willing) at the Institute of Place Management Conference being held in Manchester on the 19th and 20th April. My presentation is on the 20th and so today, as … Continue reading →

Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, BIDS, Car Dependency, Car Use Reduction, community wealth building, Governance, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Local Authorities, Manchester, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Non-domestic rates, Online Retailing, Out of Town, Places, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Social Renewal, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Towns, High Streets and Resilience: A Question for Policy?

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Leigh Sparks

“It is all too easy to talk about “bouncing back to where we were” without asking which “we” is counted and without asking whether “where we were” is a place to which a return is desirable”. (Vale, 2014, p198) Some … Continue reading →

Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Academics, CLES, Community, community wealth building, Covid19, Government, High Streets, Pandemic, Public Policy, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Social Renewal, Sustainability, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Changing Priorities? The End of the (Retail) World as We Knew It

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

In the last three posts I have looked at the food vs non-food dichotomy in retailing as COVID19 sweeps through the country.  The figures and situation are astonishing and something no-one predicted a few weeks/months ago. How do we make … Continue reading →

Posted in Availability, Community, Consumer Change, Consumer Choice, Consumers, Contactless, Convenience stores, Covid19, Food Retailing, Grocery, Independents, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Localisation, Non-food retailing, Online Retailing, Panic buying, Producers, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Small Shops, Supermarket, Suppliers, Supply Chains, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Social Science Perspectives on the High Street

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

Early in 2014, Neil Wrigley from the University of Southampton, invited myself and my colleague, Anne Findlay, to contribute two short chapters to a forthcoming collection of pieces exploring social science perspectives on the Evolving High Street. In particular he … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Closure, Community, Competition, Consumer Change, Data, ESRC, Government, High Streets, Online Retailing, Regeneration, Resilience, Retail Planning, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Three Year ESRC Collaborative PhD Studentship Open for Applications

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

A few weeks ago I gave preliminary notice of our success in obtaining an ESRC Phd Studentship to study Scotland’s Town Centres. This is a three year collaborative award with myself and Anne Findlay as the Academic Supervisors and Matthew … Continue reading →

Posted in High Streets, Local Data Company, Longitudinal Data, PhD, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centres | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Early Warning: PhD Student Wanted!

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

One evening last week I had one of those great emails, bringing good news.  I had been successful in the ESRC Scottish Graduate School for the Social Sciences Collaborative Studentship Competition.  With only 10 awarded across the whole of Scotland … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Churn, High Streets, Local Data Company, Resilience, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopping Centres, Town Centres, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment