Abstract
The desire to establish new Main Street centres in preference to ?big box shopping centres has been gathering momentum for several years. The first of the new generation of main streets have been operational for some time and they should be reviewed. This review will consider the following issues: -The need and desire to activate the ground floor plane in the new centres and the impact of this feature on the success. -The role of cars and parking (and related local authority standards) as an inhibitor of oper4ational outcomes and good -design and what this means as a driver of the business. -The role of fringe business and incubator space to activate the centre (not everything is on the corner of Main and Main). -The need for density in around the centre (and what happens if you do not get it). -How to activate a non-anchored centre (what if there are no supermarkets). -The role of local (walkable) and non-local catchments. -The need for multiple sources of market demand and demographic diversity. -The business case for owners, developers and business. The new centres that form the basis of the case studies will also be compared to longer standing successful centres to compare success criteria. The outcome of this paper will be an assessment from an economic/financial perspective of what components of the new centres are successful and what components fail. The implications for designers, planners and developers will be highlighted.