What can we do to save the Central Business Districts of Wales?

The main shopping and business area or “Central Business District (C.B.D.) of Cardiff is a major success story. Other town and city centres have been struggling but Cardiff city centre has gone from strength to strength.

The question is: how can other towns and cities learn from Cardiff? What should city planners do in the future?

Let’s look at successful and failed attempts at C.B.D. planning from across Wales and think about what could be done in the future.

Decision time - Leisure

Cardiff city centre isn’t only about shops and offices. During the day, shoppers can enjoy a meal or a drink which gives businesses another way to make money and grow.

In the evenings there are lots of different recreational facilities (for example, cinemas, nightclubs and restaurants) which attract visitors.

Customers for the shops are not only from Cardiff – the city is now a top 10 shopping destination in the UK - people actually come and stay in hotels to go shopping. City centre hotels are very busy and are even expanding, and the people staying in them boost the local night-time economy when they go out in the evening. Compare this with Cardiff’s near neighbour city Newport in which the last city centre hotel closed down last year.

Decision time - Pedestrianisation and beautification

Beautification (making the city more attractive) goes beyond stopping cars driving through town and city centres (which we call pedestrianisation). However this is an important part of improving a C.B.D. This picture is a busy pedestrianised section of Wrexham in North Wales. Shopping there is far more enjoyable without the danger of traffic or being crowded on narrow pavements.

Here are some examples of C.B.D. beautification: 

• closing roads and filling town centres with decorative paving

• improving street furniture, e.g. benches, waste bins and streetlights

• installing attractive artworks

• floral displays and trees

These have all been important in improving the shopping experience in our biggest town in north Wales.

Decision time - Indoor shopping

Undercover shopping malls are a development that has become very popular in Wales. This picture shows the Quadrant Centre in Swansea. It deals with many of the problems of the shopping experience such as wind, rain and traffic.

The malls are normally combined with car parking either as a linked block, or as a multi-storey car park above or below the mall. The St David’s 2 shopping mall in Cardiff has provided over 2,000 parking spaces above the shops.

Decision time - Students instead of businesses

Many C.B.D.s have lost businesses which have moved to out of town business parks like Parc Trostre in Llanelli. They have lost the visitors (or “footfall”) which retailers and leisure facilities need. Some planners have tried to correct this by bringing in groups not normally found in city centres.

We mentioned Newport’s problem with hotel closures earlier; to improve things a large part of Newport University campus, where students learn and live, has been moved into a riverfront location next to the C.B.D.

This is an attempt to give students a more interesting and enjoyable experience at university also to help to regenerate the city centre. This photograph was taken from the car park of Newport’s newly refurbished shopping mall. It shows the new city centre university campus being built.

Assessment for Learning: Quiz

Before attempting this quiz, make sure that you have read all the articles in this issue: 

• Issues in the C.B.D.

• Changes in retailing

• C.B.D. - Decision time