The Future of Main Street: Retail Shrinkage

Most of the discussion about what to do about dying main streets has focused on use flexibility. This paper focuses on quantity and coverage – how many and where should main streets be located? The current physical spread of traditional main streets is a product of an earlier age when miles of storefronts were surrounded by high-density neighbourhoods. Not enough a ention is paid to the need for 'smart shrinkage' – i.e. the need to drastically reduce the amount of land given over – i.e. zoned – as commercial space. Focusing on struggling commercial corridors in one large American city, Chicago, I lay out the factors to consider in deciding priority areas, including population, business, and street characteristics, and include suggestions about what planners and urbanists should aim for in the next decade.