Night-Time Economy Systems Maps
Mapping the night-time economy at a local level to reduce unequal harms
Derelict retail areas attract low-value uses without regard for health of Derby's centre
Source of power:
Economic
Space of power:
CITY'S IMAGE, REPUTATION AND IDENTITY
Description:
Participants felt there were many areas in Derby that are "quite unloved" as they have poor lighting and paving which diminishes the aesthetic of the area and attracts "lower value uses". St James Street was given as an example of this. They felt a 'public realm enhancement programme' could improve areas by attracting "higher value uses". Newly arrived students in Derby have reported being aware of how "dodgy" St Peters Street is, highlighting how its poor reputation is widely known. Participants also noted that the main high street brands have moved to Derby's Intu shopping centre, whose owners can control and curate their retail offer. They felt this has 'hollowed out' other areas of they city and that retail space in these areas is filled by landlords who may not care about the health and "vibrancy" of Derby's centre. This results in these space being used for "lower value uses" such as vape shops. Participants noted that this is challenging to address as these spaces are owned by many different landlords.
Quotes from participants:
~ "we have got a lot of areas… that are quite unloved in terms of public realm, poor lighting, poor paving... it brings the tone and the feel of the area down and it tends to attract some of these lower value uses... with a public realm enhancement programme, it lifts the area and you get the higher value uses..."
~ "...we’ve had students not from Derby come to Derby… they were already of how dodgy St Peters street was... That reputation carries."
~ "...Intu shopping centre sucks all the high street names in there [from other areas], so you’re left with spaces to fill... you’ve got landlords there who aren’t really bothered about the health and vibrancy of the city centre, they’ll just get whatever use they can in there to fill a void... you go back to these lower value uses whether it's vape shops, that sort of thing...”
~ "there’s a lot of landlords in the city centre…[retail units are] just a line on a spreadsheet to them amongst god knows however many hundreds of units they’ve got… they’re not bought into making Derby a good place, ultimately".