Reimagining retail’s role in place development
Short description
The project examines retail’s evolving role in place development, viewing it as a socio-spatial system that shapes urban vitality, well-being, digital transformation, and sustainability. It addresses retail experience and place-making, digital spatial change, and sustainable, resilient models for inclusive urban development.
The main goal is to carefully examine the evolving role that retail plays in place development by exploring how retail contributes to urban vitality, social well-being, digital transformation, and sustainability. Instead of focusing on firm-level analyses, the project conceptualizes retail as a key socio-spatial system that co-produces places through economic, spatial, social, and environmental processes.
The research is mainly structured around three themes. First, it explores retail experience and the social production of place by investigating how retail environments shape community identity, belonging, and well-being. Second, it examines digital retail and the configuration of urban space by analyzing omnichannel retailing, platform urbanism, and spatial implications of digital technologies. Third, it addresses sustainable and resilient retail in place development by analyzing circular practices, inclusive retail models, and governance strategies that support long-term urban resilience.