1. Adaptive Town Centres: examining the
physical, social and economic growth and
change in London’s suburban centres
Presentation to London High Street Network:
Geography of Economy
City Hall, 3 December 2012

2. INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE
• London’s suburban evolution
• London’s commercial ecology
• The importance of diversity of scale and use

3. Town centres in policy
The boundaries of the town
centre have become fixed
in policy makers minds,
even though much activity
falls outside of the
boundary.

4. Town centres in policy
Land use is more extensive
and varied than national
statistics would suggest.

5. Not just retail, offices
A significant amount of
non-retail and office activity
takes place in smaller town
centres
Barnet 2008
Much of this is comprised
of local businesses, as well
as regional and national
chains
Surbiton 2008

6. Shopping as by-product of other activities
The majority of town centre inhabitants and
visitors don’t shop. Those that do, have a
wide variety of other activities. What else do shoppers+ do?
Business meeting
Catching a train/bus/tube
Coffee/tea/drink
Do nothing/ hanging out
Doctors/hospital/dentist
Eat
Univariate Bar Chart
Get money
Split By: activity
Row exclusion: shoppers.svd Go for a w alk
Gym/leisure centre/sports
25
Library
11
Live here
10
Meet family/friends
8 On school lunch break
total count
6 Park/allotments/recreation ground
5 Passing through
4 Pay bills
3 Post a letter
2 Post office
1 Pub/bar
Observations School/college/university
Take children to/from nursery/playschool
Take children to/from school
Visit family/friends
Wait for family/friends
Walk the dog
Window shop
Where do shoppers+ go? Work here

7. LONDON’S SUBURBAN EVOLUTION

8. Understanding
London as a
network of
emergent
linked centres,
rather than a
planned
hierarchy
Abercrombie’s plan
of London, 1944

9. Image shows measure of
Choice 800m, which
predicts flows of movement
within a reach of 800
metres along each street
segment within the network.
The warmer the colour, the
higher the predicted flow.
All existing buildings are
coloured black.
Loughton c. 1880

10. Loughton c. 1890
Image shows measure of
Choice 800m, which
predicts flows of movement
within a reach of 800
metres along each street
segment within the network.
The warmer the colour, the
higher the predicted flow.
All existing buildings are
coloured black.
Loughton c. 1915

11. Loughton c. 1915
Image shows measure of
Choice 800m, which
predicts flows of movement
within a reach of 800
metres along each street
segment within the network.
The warmer the colour, the
higher the predicted flow.
All existing buildings are
coloured black.
Loughton c. 1965

12. Loughton c. 1965
Image shows measure of
Choice 800m, which
predicts flows of movement
within a reach of 800
metres along each street
segment within the network.
The warmer the colour, the
higher the predicted flow.
All existing buildings are
coloured black.
Loughton c. 2012

13. LONDON’S COMMERCIAL ECOLOGY

14. 113 outer London town centres ordered by commercial floorspace
Long tail of activity 900000
Croydon
800000
(2008 data) 700000
600000
500000
Flr_Space_Sqm
Approx. top 15 centres 400000
Watford
account for 50% of 300000
Uxbridge
commercial floorspace;
200000
approx. 100 account for
100000
0
the other 50% -100000
Observations
Smaller centres
contribute to sustainable
113 outer London town centres ordered by commercial floorspace (excluding Croydon, Kingston, Watford, Bromley and Ealing)
300000
Romford
urban life by supporting 250000
socio-economic and
Uxbridge
200000
cultural diversity across
Flr_Space_Sqm
150000
a wide range of activities Brent
Cross
and nurturing them at
100000
Surbiton Chipping
the local scale. Essential
50000 Barnet South
Norwood
links in the chain 0
-50000
Observations

15. Adaptability inherent in diversity of
network over time
Businesses in Surbiton over time
Percentage of all businesses within the time period
45
40
35
30 % Community Services
% Industrial Services
25 % Offices & Commerce
% Retail.
20
% Businesses with Manufacture
15 % Food/drink/accommodation
10
5
0
1876 1915 1965 2012

16. LAND-USE AND
CHOICE
Small-scale spatial model
reveals long-tail of activity,
longevity of non-residential
presence in the area
Choice radius 400

17. LAND-USE AND
CHOICE
Distribution of uses varies
across location and scale of
potential journey.
Choice radius 800

18. LAND-USE AND
CHOICE
A given street or area may
be central at a local scale
but relatively segregated at
a larger scale.
Choice radius 1600

19. CONCLUSION: THE NEED FOR DIVERSITY

20. c.1915
c.1875
Built Form change and adaptation and
path dependency: from stables to
trams to the motor car

21. Suburban adaptability - sustainability
• Future of centres is same as past: not
to rely on retail alone but to encourage
greater mixing within the block or even
unit
• Smaller centres have the potential to
provide a more targeted, genuinely
sustainable growth, because of their
scale and urban form: enabling
local/non-local transactions alongside
each other
• Adaptability of the built environment
relates to the ability of network to carry
different movement scales
• Consider ‘affordable businesses’ as
much as ‘affordable housing’
• Importance of diversity in business
classes – a return, or a new form, of Backyard workshops in high street hinterland.
Allows for diversity of users and activities
small-scale manufacture?

22. Mixed use taken to its extreme conclusion

23. Mixed use within a single business; production
returning to the suburbs

24. Adaptable Suburbs Project
www.ucl.ac.uk/adaptablesuburbs
@AdaptableSuburb
Victor Buchli
Ruthie Carlisle
Ashley Dhanani
Claire Ellul
Sam Griffiths
Muki Haklay
David Jeevendrampillai
Patrick Rickles
Laura Vaughan