Do we really need so many shopping spaces?
Pawel SMOLINSKI, Interdisciplinary Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland
Since ancient times, trade has been one of the main factors in the socio-economic development of cities around the world. The dynamic development of commercial spaces in the second half of the twentieth century meant that the importance of the trade sector had to be considered primarily in the context of the urban spaces transformation.
As a consequence of ongoing transformation in Poland after 1989, there were observed rapid changes in the organisation and the trade location in Polish cities. This dynamic transformation, due to its pace and scale, may even be compared to the industrial revolution. That changes were further accelerated by Poland's accession to the EU in 2004.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a factor which once again determined the location of retail space in the city. Until the pre-pandemic investment in cities tended to generate new commercial locations which, through instinctive planning in relation to the street grid, became part of the urban infrastructure. That process was stopped in 2020.
The study trace the development of the existing retail sector structure in a post-socialist city, in relation to the consumer’s expectations, in the case study of Toru? (Poland). In addition to the retail hotspots isolation and the analysis of the facilities location in urban space, there were analysed also results of a survey conducted in 2008 and 2019. The research show transformation in a scope of existing retail sector development in the city using the Manhattan Distance method, and changes in inhabitants’ preferences of choosing retail facilities
Mots clés : retail sector |post-socialism|urban space transformation|urban space development
A105049PS