Diversity of high street real estate

Introduction

High streets are the backbone of towns and cities providing space and opportunities for the exchange of goods and services. High streets are places where people converge to form a vibrant community and produce a shared sense of identity.

High streets, traditionally dominated by retail, are in accelerating decline because of changes in shopping behaviours driven by technological progress. This has been especially apparent across matured markets, with retail saturation, where retail space is no longer in demand. As this is unlikely to be reversed, the challenge to retain the central role of high streets in our cities and towns requires new mindsets and innovative approaches. At the same time there is an investment conundrum around retail real estate.

This special issue looks into matters relating to the management of existing retail assets within the high streets and town centres, including adaptive re-use, temporary uses, redesigns, redevelopment, innovative new uses, addressing societal challenges resulting from socio-demographic, political and economic changes.

The aim of this special issue is to cross boundaries between investment, place-making and other areas of interest and unpack the high street retail real estate phenomena. The goal is to improve our understanding of how the various types of high street properties can be managed to retain and stimulate vibrancy in town centres.

We welcome research taking unorthodox approaches creating opportunities to generate novel insights not within the scope of traditional methods; research looking beyond the individual  properties and addressing high street challenges by proposing technological innovations, new ways of dealing with social challenges and addressing environmental issues. 

List of topic areas

• Characteristics of high streets and retail-focused town centres
• Adaptive re-use and innovative high street uses
• New property management practices
• Landlords’ dilemmas
• Stakeholder management for improved high streets

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.

Author guidelines must be strictly followed.

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to". 

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 27th January, 2025

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31st May, 2025