Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to document the results and the impact of the ESRC-funded High Street UK 2020 (HSUK2020), a project designed to take the existing academic knowledge relating to retail and high street change directly to UK High Streets, to improve local decision-making and, ultimately, their vitality and viability. Design/methodology/approach-Through a systematic literature review, and by following the tenets of engaged scholarship, the authors identified 201 factors that influence the vitality and viability of town centres. Through the consensus-building Delphi technique, a panel of 20 retail experts identified the top 25 priorities for action. Findings-Taking a place management approach led to the development of a more strategic framework for regeneration, which consisted of repositioning, reinventing, rebranding and restructuring strategies (4R's of regeneration). Collaboration with the project towns resulted in identification of the strategy area that would
This article explores consumers’ experiences of place atmospheres through a study into football matches, a context in which atmosphere is pertinent. While existing marketing literature concerning atmospherics largely conceptualises atmosphere as controllable, singular, and confined to the consumption environment and experience under investigation, we instead contribute a more spatially and temporally porous theorisation. Drawing insights from both consumer research and geography surrounding affect, embodiment and atmosphere, we unpack the spatial and temporal aspects of atmosphere in relation to consumers’ past memories, disrupted routines, and anticipations of future. The article contributes, therefore, to bourgeoning literature within marketing and consumer research regarding the consumption in – and of – places.
In the last two decades, illuminating the outside of a house with multi-coloured lights has become a popular British Christmas practice, typically adopted within working-class neighbourhoods and thus producing a particular geography of illumination.This article explores how such displays have become a site for class conflict mobilized around contesting ideas about space, time, community, aesthetics and festivity, highlighting how the symbolic economy of class conflict moves across popular culture. We focus upon two contrasting class-making practices evoking conflicting cultural values. First, we examine the themes prevalent in negative media representations of Christmas lights, notably the expression of disgust which foregrounds the working-class stereotype, the `chav'. Second, we analyse the motivations of displayers, exploring how the illuminations are imbued with idealistic notions about conviviality and generosity.
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