The Oval Partnership and Loughborough University invite you to join an open discussion on how advanced footfall planning tools might help shape stronger town centre strategies.
The town centre retail model of past decades is in sharp decline. To survive, high street destinations increasingly need to build a sense of place and distinctiveness. Resilient town centres tend to rely on a diversity of land use to generate footfall at different times of the day, creative uses of vacant space, and public engagement with the cultural and commercial offer. But even if we think we know what leads to success, do we have the tools to get there?
In terms of footfall planning, we need to break away from the retail-centric model of high street movement and the car-centric model of high street access. This implies a shift to new models of footfall planning and forecasting that are tailored to the needs of the property sector today.
Big data from credit cards and personal mobile devices provide an insightful snapshot of consumer habits, but say little about tomorrow’s needs. With better predictive capabilities, actors involved in property development and regeneration could increase their understanding of how the physical fabric of the city, land use mix, and footfall really interrelate – and consequently assemble more resilient town centre strategies.
The Oval Partnership, together with subsidiary Wedderburn Transport Planning and Loughborough University, are embarking on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership to develop a predictive pedestrian forecasting tool to enable planning and design services for urban regeneration, master planning, and community engagement. The project team is seeking to engage with developers, regeneration professionals, tenants, and community members to understand their footfall planning needs, current data sources, and views on the potential benefits and limitations of evidence-based predictive tools.
The forum can seat up to 16 guests. Anyone with an interest in high streets and footfall planning is welcome to send an expression of interest to our team. We will be in touch to confirm your seat.
Hosts
- Martin Wedderburn, Wedderburn Transport Planning
- Dr Zoe Marshall-Jones, Loughborough University
- Jonathan Pile, The Oval Partnership
- Olumide Odetunde, The Oval Partnership
When & Where
- Friday February 03, 2023
- 08.30-10.30am
- Hassell Studio, 6 – 14 Underwood Street
- London N1 7JQ
Want to join?
- This forum can seat 16 guests
- Send an expression of interest to our team
