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Urban planification

Local Shopping and Services

CONTEXT

 

For years the trend was to centralise services in commercial areas that were not always located near to where people live, but now more and more municipalities are committing to reversing this trend and bringing services closer to their citizens.

Fostering the integration of local services and shopping into the life of the neighbourhood in order to prevent commercial desertification and the deterioration of services should be a key aspect to achieve economic and social revitalisation. This approach to economic development and neighbourhood life produces a positive social impact on social cohesion and identity, and on the wellbeing and quality of life of residents.

OBJECTIVE

• Foster the competitiveness and sustainability of local services and shopping, favouring ethical consumerism.
• Foster local public services (social services, children’s homes, care for the elderly…).

PROPOSALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Ensure there is space for local shops in all neighbourhoods in order to improve commercial development, social participation, inclusion and ethical consumerism.
• Promote municipal markets (both central markets and weekly markets organised by councils) as a space for shopping and social relations, considering the value of the market as a public space and a meeting place that contributes to socialisation, diversity and social inclusion, the transmission of values, an increased sense of belonging to the neighbourhood, the improvement of coexistence and the wellbeing of the people.
• Incorporate weekly markets as a complement to shops in order to support local producers and zero kilometre products, offer farmers the opportunity to be in direct contact with consumers, reduce transport and packaging, facilitate participation and strengthen the culture of environmental sustainability.
• Provide cycle paths and parking in local service and shopping areas in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the city. That is, prioritise the combination of profitability, diversity, proximity, aspects related to green spaces (e.g. connections, distances, beauty, environmental diversity and the sustainable management of rainwater) and ecosystems.
• Incorporate areas with fountains and shade into shopping areas in order to improve accessibility and the user’s experience of the urban environment as a means of strengthening it.

REFERENCE EXPERIENCES

LEGISLATION

• Llei 18/2017, de l'1 d'agost, de comerç, serveis i fires.
• Decret llei 1/2009, del 22 de desembre, d'ordenació dels equipaments comercials. 
• Normativa local pròpia de cada municipi (POUM i/o Ordenances municipals).

STUDIES AND TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION

Technical documents:

• Government of South Australia, 2015. Urban Design Protocol. 
• Greater London Authority on behalf of the Green Infrastructure Task Force, 2015. Natural Capital Investing in a Green Infrastructure for a Future London.  
• Public Health Agency of Canada, 2017. Designing Healthy Living. The Chief Public Health Officer’s Report on The State of Public Health in Canada 2017. Public Health Agency of Canada
• Stad, S., 2014. The Stockholm Environment Programme 2016-2019. Stockholms stad.
• Tiran, J. et al., 2017. Baseline study on the status quo of regional UGS governance and European good practices. Interreg Central Europe
• Vancouver City Council, 2020. Greenest City 2020 Action Plan Part Two: 2015-2020. Vancouver City Council.

Scientific papers:

• Carlson, J. A. et al. (2016) ‘Walking mediates associations between neighborhood activity supportiveness and BMI in the Women’s Health Initiative San Diego cohort’, Health & Place, 38, pp. 48–53. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.01.001.Walking.
• Cerin, E. et al. (2017) ‘Do associations between objectively- assessed physical activity and neighbourhood environment attributes vary by time of the day and day of the week ? IPEN adult study’, pp. 1–16. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0493-z.
• James, P., Hart, J. E. and Laden, F. (2015) ‘Exposures to Walkability and Particulate Air Pollution in a Nationwide Cohort of Women’, Environmental Research, 142, pp. 703–711. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2015.09.005.Exposures.
• Jáuregui, A. et al. (2016) ‘Perceived and Objective Measures of Neighborhood Environment for Physical Activity Among Mexican Adults , 2011’, pp. 1–12.
• Katapally, T. R., Rainham, D. and Muhajarine, N. (2015) ‘Factoring in weather variation to capture the in fl uence of urban design and built environment on globally recommended levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity in children’, pp. 1–10. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009045.
• Kerr, J. et al. (2016) ‘Perceived Neighborhood Environmental Attributes Associated with Walking and Cycling for Transport among Adult Residents of 17 Cities in 12 Countries : The IPEN Study’, Environmental Health Perspectives, 124(3), pp. 290–298.
• King, A. C. et al. (2015) ‘An observational study identifying obese subgroups among older adults at increased risk of mobility disability : do perceptions of the neighborhood environment matter?’, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12, p. 157. doi: 10.1186/s12966-015-0322-1.
• Kolbe-alexander, T. L. et al. (2015) ‘The relationship between the built environment and habitual levels of physical activity in South African older adults : a pilot study’, pp. 1–9. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-1853-8.
• Koohsari, M. J. et al. (2015) ‘Public open space, physical activity, urban design and public health: Concepts, methods and research agenda’, Health and Place. Elsevier, 33, pp. 75–82. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.02.009.
• Liao, Y. et al. (2016) ‘Associations of Perceived and Objectively-Measured Neighborhood Environmental Attributes With Leisure-Time Sitting for Transport’, Journal of physical activity & health.
• Melis, G. et al. (2015) ‘The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health : A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City’, pp. 14898–14915. doi: 10.3390/ijerph121114898.
• Miranda, J. J. et al. (2016) ‘Patterns and Determinants of Physical Inactivity in Rural and Urban Areas in Peru : A Population-Based Study’, pp. 654–662.
• Oliver, M. et al. (2015) ‘Neighbourhood built environment associations with body size in adults : mediating effects of activity and sedentariness in a cross-sectional study of New Zealand adults’, BMC Public Health. BMC Public Health, 15, p. 956. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2292-2.
• Paul, P., Carlson, S. A. and Fulton, J. E. (2017) ‘Walking and the Perception of Neighborhood Attributes Among U.S. Adults, 2012’, Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 14(1), pp. 36–44.

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