Retail Fabric Assessment: Describing retail patterns within urban space

Spaces of market politics: Retailscapes and modernist planning imaginaries in African cities

“…Recently, Araldi and Fusco (2019) discussed the limitations and potentials of recent methodological studies to advance our understanding of retail spaces in urban areas (e.g., Mackaness & Chaudhry, 2011 , Jensen, 2006 ; Duranton & Overman, 2005 ; Dolega et al, 2016 ). In explicating the limitations and potentials of recent methods, Araldi and Fusco (2019) highlighted the need to (1) classify retail spaces based on concentrations, functions, and spatial layout within the built environment, (2) account for the co-dependence between agglomeration and specialization of retail centers in urban areas, and (3) identify over- and under-representation of retail activities. Hence, in what they refer to as the “retail fabric assessment” method, Araldi and Fusco (2019) empirically assess the retailscape of the French Riviera by considering both the form of retail activities (i.e., relative accessibility, agglomeration, and geometry) and function of retail distribution (i.e., variety and prevalence of retail category and anchor stores).…”

“…In explicating the limitations and potentials of recent methods, Araldi and Fusco (2019) highlighted the need to (1) classify retail spaces based on concentrations, functions, and spatial layout within the built environment, (2) account for the co-dependence between agglomeration and specialization of retail centers in urban areas, and (3) identify over- and under-representation of retail activities. Hence, in what they refer to as the “retail fabric assessment” method, Araldi and Fusco (2019) empirically assess the retailscape of the French Riviera by considering both the form of retail activities (i.e., relative accessibility, agglomeration, and geometry) and function of retail distribution (i.e., variety and prevalence of retail category and anchor stores). This method is in response to Guy's (1998) call for well-informed and comparative discussions of retail geography by incorporating into methods and theories, the form and function of retail centers, and urban morphology.…”

“…These traditional retail areas comprise a natural clustering of individuals selling goods that are arranged in baskets, under umbrellas, within market stalls, along the streets, and sometimes even in commuter vehicles (e.g., buses and minivans). Hence, although it is relatively easy to locate a traditional marketplace, it is very problematic to disaggregate individual retail shops within specific markets by showing their locations using parcel-level data as pursued in some studies (e.g., Araldi & Fusco, 2019 ; Jensen, 2006 ).…”

Describing the Residential Valorisation of Urban Space at the Street Level. The French Riviera as Example

“…Researchers in the field of Urban Geography defined several street-based measures to quantify aspects of urban form and commerce [ 7 , 8 ]. The former are, for example, the fragmentation of street fronts and canyon effect [ 7 ].…”

“…In Urban Design, for example, researchers defined and computed several street-based metrics of network centrality (e.g., betweenness, closeness) [ 5 ]. Similarly, in the field of Geography, academics quantified several aspects of urban form and commerce at the street level and summarised this information through Bayesian clustering [ 7 , 8 ]. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, street-based indicators of the housing market have never been defined.…”