Future Shopping Places? Research Team Peter Drummond, BDP Tessa O’Neill , BDP Objective To describe the key trends in architecture, urban design, building design regulation and construction that will determine the form of retail places over the next ten years. Background to the research To a large extent the quality of the shopping environment will not change over the next ten years. In 2014 most centres will look much the same as they do now because, even over a ten year period, the quantum of new capital applied to refurbishment and development will be dwarfed by the value of the existing stock.

Retail Location Tool In Town or Out of Town Retail Location Tool > Access for BCSC Members only Project Report Future Shopping Places > Download Executive Summary > Obtain the full report Press Releases INNOVATION & EXPERIENCE KEY TO SUCCESS IN FUTURE DESIGN OF SHOPPING CENTRES & RETAIL PLACES 17/04/07

Change will be relatively small scale and incremental. Furthermore, architecture and urban design do not exist in a vacuum, both respond to political, social and economic demands. Nevertheless, the nature of the physical infrastructure of retailing is the product of fashions and trends within the supply side of the industry.

The purpose of this module is to consider the way in which trends in architecture and urban design might affect retail places over the next ten years, in particular those that will be constructed over the period.

Questions the research must answer

• What is considered best practice in the area of retail design currently, and how might this change over the next ten years?
• What is considered best practise in urban design currently, how is retail treated within this field, and how might this change over the next ten years?
• What environmental and legislative factors will shape shopping centre design in the coming years?
• What new materials and construction techniques may emerge in the next ten years that will change shopping centre design?
• What do town centres have to do to provide an ‘experience’ that allows them to compete effectively with the convenience and comfort of covered out-of-town malls?
• How might retail parks evolve into urban centres in their own right?
• How will the internet shape the design of stores? Is it likely that that stores will increasingly serve only as show rooms or retail theatres?
• How will secondary retail centres evolve over the next ten years?
• What impact will the ‘sustainability’ agenda have on retail design in the ten
  years ahead?