High Street Research Articles

Tourist purchases in a destination: what leads them to seek information from digital sources?

PurposeIn a context where retail stores are closing down and high streets are declining, the purpose of this paper is to analyse on-site shopping by tourists. This work identifies the drivers that lead tourists to use digital information sources at the beginning of the shopping process. Understanding these drivers can help destination managers and retailers encourage tourists to shop.Design/methodology/approachA personal survey was conducted in a Spanish city noted for its shopping facilities (Logroño), using a sample of 430 tourists with purchase intention. The survey was designed based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model. A multivariate analysis, based on structural equation modelling, was carried out using partial least squares (PLS), based on variance.FindingsThe study’s finding is that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and habit influence intention to use digital sources of information to make purchases in a destination. Tourists prioritise utilitarian over hedonic motivations in the intention to use digital sources of information in tourist shopping.Originality/valueIt has been recognised that tourists are the perfect target to revitalise on-site shopping and, therefore, destinations must provide attractive shopping experiences from the outset. Prior to purchase, the search for available information is the first stage of the tourist shopping journey. Although many studies have analysed tourist shopping behaviour, none have focused, using the UTAUT2, on the digital information sources tourists consult pre-purchase. This research develops understanding of tourist shopping behaviour in this new technological context. This can help retailers/destinations provide better services and optimise the shopper's experience from the first stage of the process.

Understanding the Behaviour and Improving the Welfare of Chickens - Edited by C Nicol (2020). Published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ, UK. 688 pages Hardback (ISBN: 9781786764225). Price £170.00.

Understanding the Behaviour and Improving the Welfare of Chickens - Edited by C Nicol (2020). Published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ, UK. 688 pages Hardback (ISBN: 9781786764225). Price £170.00. - Volume 30 Issue 2

Analysis of high streets of Istanbul: a proposal for strategical management approach

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the high streets of Istanbul within the context of high street management through four dimensions of location and movement, physical fabric, real estate & land use and exchange, and suggests a comprehensive approach to manage these commercial axes. While analysing the chosen study areas of Istiklal Street, Bagdat Street and Nisantasi District under the given topics, this paper makes use of analyses regarding transportation network, footfall, commercial and non-commercial use, prime rental values, besides a literature review to have an understanding towards the nature of each case study area. The results imply that despite their differences, all three study areas face certain issues that point out the lack of comprehensive strategic approaches to their management. Towards the high streets of Istanbul, this paper proposes a management approach embracing three main goals: (1) to constitute a brand image, (2) to decrease the vulnerability against macroeconomic factors and (3) to maintain vitality and viability of these axes. To overcome the complexities regarding management issues, this paper suggests an organizational and institutional approach, dedicated to considering the interests of all users on high streets.

Breasts and the city: an urban ethnography of infant feeding in public spaces within Cardiff, United Kingdom

BackgroundInternationally, women report challenges breastfeeding in public spaces. This study aimed to investigate the social-spatial aspects of public spaces in one UK city, Cardiff, in order to suggest possible barriers and facilitators to breastfeeding in public spaces.MethodsThe study observation location guide prioritised places that had been reported as hostile to breastfeeding or breastfeeding friendly in the existing literature. Data were collected between April and September 2018 at various times of day, in several areas of the city, and included transport (n = 4), transport hubs (n = 3), high streets (n = 4), cafes (n = 2), a large city centre shopping complex, comprising of three joined shopping malls and a large city centre department store containing a third café. Low inference field notes were written on an encrypted smart phone and expanded soon after. Data were analysed thematically using deductive codes based on the observation schedule. Additional inductive codes relating to places were added.ResultsOverall, public transport and the city centre were inhospitable environments for those who might need to breastfeed, and even more so for those who need to express breastmilk. The core barriers and facilitators across locations were the availability of appropriate seating coupled with either high privacy or politely unimposing strangers (civil inattention). The one variation to this model arose from the department store café, where civil inattention was not performed and there was low privacy, but breastfeeding occurred anyway.ConclusionsThis research highlights the physical and social barriers to breastfeeding within one urban city centre in the UK and its associated transport links. It is clear that there is an urgent need for change in urban city centres and public transport if countries are to meet their aims in relation to increasing breastfeeding rates. Interventions will need to be multifaceted, accounting for social norms relating to infant feeding as well as changes to the physical environment, policy and potentially legal change. Further research should be undertaken in other countries to examine the extent to which hostile environments exist, and if correcting these could facilitate breastfeeding and reduce gender-based violence.

Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) on the Global Market: What Are the Implications for Products' Quality?

Background: Danshen (Radix et rhizoma Salviae miltiorrhizae; Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, Lamiaceae) is commonly used in Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea with markets in America and Europe growing substantially. It is included in multiple pharmacopeias and salvianolic acid B and tanshinone IIA are used as quality markers. However, on the markets, substitutes and different processing methods often are a concern. a concern regarding patients’ safety and expected outcomes. Aims: This study aims at understanding the quality of Danshen-derived products on the market, and the relationship between the chemistry, biological activity and the processing and storage methods. Methods: For heavy metal analysis, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry was used. High performance thin-layer chromatography and proton nuclear magnetic resonance coupled with principal component analysis were used to understand the variation of metabolite composition. MTT assay and LPS induced NO production assay were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity effect and anti-inflammatory activity, respectively. Result and Discussion: Six out of sixty samples exceed the limits of cadmium according to the Chinese or United States Pharmacopoeia. Arsenic, lead and copper contents are all below pharmacopoeial thresholds. With more complex processing procedure, the risk of heavy metal contamination increases, especially with arsenic and cadmium. The metabolite compositions show a variability linked to processing and storage methods. Authenticated samples and Vietnamese primary samples contain higher salvianolic acid B, and their chemical compositions are more consistent compared to Chinese online store samples. Overall, a significant chemical variation can be observed in Danshen products directly linked to processing and storage method. In the MTT assay, fourteen samples show cytotoxicity while seven samples increase the proliferation of RAW264.7. In the LPS induced NO production of RAW 264.7, only seven samples show significant inhibitory effects. Conclusion: This is the first interdisciplinary investigation focusing on understanding the current market and the quality of Danshen. The quality of Danshen products on the high street are inferior to the authenticated samples. The results of the bioassays selected is not useful to differentiate the quality and composition according to the current definition in the pharmacopoeias. Overall, this approach highlights the tremendous variability of the products linked to processing and the need for more systematic and stringent quality assurance.

Toward a new normality in Via Paolo Sarpi (Milan, Italy)? Social behaviors and spatial transitions during and after the lockdown

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 crisis (February–September 2020), Lombardy—the most populous region in Italy—suffered more than 101,705 contagions with more than 16,880 deaths. Such an amount of cases (38,9% over the total Italian COVID-19 patients and 47,8% over Italian deaths) imposed a severe lockdown that affected ten million inhabitants in one of the larger urban regions of Europe that includes the cities of Milan, Bergamo, and Brescia. Social contact where forbidden, and civil rights and mobility dramatically reduced. Therefore, over two months, three urban values (the density, the proximity, and the continuous interaction) that shaped the European lifestyle in cities were considered dangerous. The urban space itself turned in a risky environment for its inhabitants. The disruptive result has been a general decline of urban public life, and this reduction has been evident in high streets and other public spaces. Hoping that the current situation will change rapidly, we recognize that we must adapt to a new normality, where public spaces and social encounters will still have a crucial role in cities. Regarding the rapid and profound transformation of social behaviors in Milan during the COVID-19 crisis, the research will be picking the focus on the street space as a suitable environment for converting more sociable anwctd healthy public spaces. Starting from the case of a multiethnic consolidated neighborhood in Milan (around Via Paolo Sarpi, a pedestrian-oriented street marked by the presence of the Chinese community), the proposed chapter explores how social behaviors and their spatial impacts changed—and adapted—during the lockdown. We will involve the analysis of the changes in the living practices of the street during the pandemic not only physically but also performed as booming social media connections. In the conclusions, we will point out how several reflections about the new normality that is rising out after this extra-ordinary situation at the local level, and how this original knowledge must support a new approach to the urban planning and territorial governance in the next years.

Reinterpreting of mobility in high traffic streets in the Anápolis-GO downtown

The Brazilian urban centers, in general, emit a saturated landscape of vehicles with visual, noise, thermal, andatmospheric pollution causing stress and discomfort. Thinking about sustainable mobility is the principle of planning for such space’s reformulation, to make them truly pleasant and efficient public spaces. Observing the need of users in the city traffic of Anápolis-GO, this research has essay investigative character based on bibliographical research, census and case study. Done through an analysis of the flow and the aggravating conditions of urban mobility in that region, to enable efficient use of space and consistent with demand from users. The research presents viable alternatives, changing the conformation, the organization of the transit and essentially the cultural meaning of this space, basing on preference to sustainable modes, or even physical restructuring of components that complicating the access to any person.

Association of Infrastructure and Route Environment Factors with Cycling Injury Risk at Intersection and Non-Intersection Locations: A Case-Crossover Study of Britain.

Objective: This paper examines infrastructural and route environment correlates of cycling injury risk in Britain for commuters riding in the morning peak. Methods: The study uses a case-crossover design which controls for exposure. Control sites from modelled cyclist routes (matched on intersection status) were compared with sites where cyclists were injured. Conditional logistic regression for matched case–control groups was used to compare characteristics of control and injury sites. Results: High streets (defined by clustering of retail premises) raised injury odds by 32%. Main (Class A or primary) roads were riskier than other road types, with injury odds twice that for residential roads. Wider roads, and those with lower gradients increased injury odds. Guard railing raised injury odds by 18%, and petrol stations or car parks by 43%. Bus lanes raised injury odds by 84%. As in other studies, there was a ‘safety in numbers’ effect from more cyclists. Contrary to other analysis, including two recent studies in London, we did not find a protective effect from cycle infrastructure and the presence of painted cycle lanes raised injury odds by 54%. At intersections, both standard and mini roundabouts were associated with injury odds several times higher than other intersections. Presence of traffic signals, with or without an Advanced Stop Line (‘bike box’), had no impact on injury odds. For a cyclist on a main road, intersections with minor roads were riskier than intersections with other main roads. Conclusions: Typical cycling environments in Britain put cyclists at risk, and infrastructure must be improved, particularly on busy main roads, high streets, and bus routes.

Cycling injury risk in Britain: A case-crossover study of infrastructural and route environment correlates

This paper examines infrastructural and route environment correlates of cycling injury risk in Britain. We used a case-crossover design, randomly selecting control sites from modelled cyclist routes, comparing these with sites where cyclists were injured. We then used conditional logistic regression for matched case–control groups modelling to compare characteristics of control and injury sites.Intersections were strongly associated with injury risk. High streets were associated with an elevated injury risk in final adjusted models, as was road type being primary, and a more downhill gradient. Lower speed limits and lower motor traffic connectivity were initially associated with lower injury risk, but these effects were no longer statistically significant in adjusted models. Increased road width was associated with increased injury risk in all models.Increased injury risk was associated in all models with presence of bus lane (somewhat mitigated at stops), guardrail, and fuel station or parking lot. Presence of parked cars in street view data raised injury risk in fully adjusted models, as did congestion (measured by low morning peak speeds), while higher volumes of people cycling along the street reduced it.In fully adjusted models, a statistically significant increase in risk was associated with presence of an on-road painted cycle lane. Most cycle lanes or tracks at control and injury sites were very poor, with narrow lanes, shared footways, and lack of protection at junctions. Given findings from other studies showing protective effects of cycle infrastructure, Britain must create higher quality cycle provision, avoiding narrow on-road painted lanes.

Anarchy\u2019s Neighborhoods: the Formation of a Quadriplex Urban Ecology

In each of four nearby city areas, residents orient to local centers of collective activity in different geographic patterns. In a “perimeter” neighborhood, residents and outsiders are drawn to religious and retail organizations located on streets that form a rectangle. In an “intersection” neighborhood, residents are most visible to each other at an agglomeration of stores and services located where two high traffic streets cross. Residents of an “in-between” area travel to socio-economically and culturally different neighborhoods centered in all directions elsewhere. In a “contested” geography, rival organizations disagree over who, living where, for what purposes, has the right to define the neighborhood’s boundaries and social identity. These different social ecologies took shape without coordination yet became an interdependent, quadriplex set. After 1965, a series of retreats in government control of local social life created unprecedented opportunities for intermediaries who reshaped the social landscape with new businesses, cultural institutions, and interpretations of neighborhood identity. This case study revives the “collective action” explanations of the “Chicago School” by showing how urban social ecology was transformed in the late twentieth century as people of different generations and in different geographic areas interacted indirectly, creating durable neighborhood patterns without centralized, top-down leadership from business or government, in response to locally recognized affordances of anarchy.

Gordon McVie: medical oncologist who helped drive the formation of Cancer Research UK

Gordon McVie, the medical oncologist who helped orchestrate the merger of the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) and Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) to form Cancer Research UK (CRUK), was a...

Modelling cyclists’ route choice using Strava and OSMnx: A case study of the City of Glasgow

Previous research has demonstrated the influence of street layout on travel behaviour; however, little research has been undertaken to explore these connections using detailed and robust street network analysis or cycling data. In this study, we harness state-of-the-art datasets to model cyclists’ route choice based on a case study of the City of Glasgow, Scotland. First, the social fitness network Strava was used to obtain datasets containing the number of cycling trips on each street intersection for the years 2017 and 2018. Second, we employed a Python toolkit to acquire and analyse the street networks. OSMnx was subsequently employed to quantify several commonly used centrality indices (degree, eigenvector, betweenness and closeness) to measure street layout. Due to the presence of spatial dependence, a spatial error model was used to model route choices. Model results demonstrate that: (1) cyclists’ movement models were consistent for the years 2017 and 2018; (2) the presence of a spillover effect suggests that cyclists tend to cycle in proximity to each other; and (3) cyclists avoid streets with high degree centrality values and prefer streets with high eigenvector centrality, betweenness centrality and closeness centrality. These findings reveal cyclists’ desired street layouts and can be taken into consideration for future interventions.

Enhancing Informal Social Controls to Reduce Crime: Evidence from a Study of Crime Hot Spots.

There is growing evidence that crime is strongly concentrated in micro-geographic hot spots, a fact that has led to the wide-scale use of hot spots policing programs. Such programs are ordinarily focused on deterrence due to police presence, or other law enforcement interventions at hot spots. However, preliminary basic research studies suggest that informal social controls may also be an important mechanism for crime reduction on high crime streets. Such research has been hindered by a lack of data on social and attitudinal characteristics of residents, and the fact that census information is not available at the micro-geographic level. Our study, conducted in Baltimore, MD, on a sample of 449 residential street segments, overcame these limitations by collecting an average of eight surveys (N = 3738), as well as physical observations, on segments studied. This unique primary data collection allowed us to develop the first direct indicators of collective efficacy at the micro-geographic level, as well as a wide array of indicators of other possible risk and protective factors for crime. Using multilevel negative binomial regression models, we also take into account community-level influences, and oversample crime hot spots to allow for robust comparisons across streets. Our study confirms the importance of opportunity features of streets such as population size and business activity in understanding crime, but also shows that informal social controls, as reflected by collective efficacy, are key for understanding crime on high crime streets. We argue that it is time for police, other city agencies, and NGOs to begin to work together to consider how informal social controls can be used to reduce crime at residential crime hot spots.

Book review: The shop on High Street: At home with petite capitalism

Book review: The shop on High Street: At home with petite capitalism

Older People, Town Centres and the Revival of the ‘High Street’

ABSTRACT Concern for the future of town centres and their retail cores, the ‘high street’, is not new. Responses to this have often been somewhat one dimensional, focusing on their role as places of consumption, employment, leisure and heritage. We consider the potential multiple roles of older people in helping revive and rejuvenate town centres given the centrality of place for healthy supportive living, community and social participation and ‘ageing in place’. Taking an environmental gerontology perspective, we ask whether the WHO age friendly cities/communities’ framework should be considered further in approaches to reviving town centres in a post-Covid-19 world.

Experimental analysis of walkability evaluation using virtual reality application

Excessive motorisation, resulting from the vicious cycle of car-oriented road development and car-reliant land development, significantly deteriorates walking environments, causing traffic safety problems, damaging city-centre vitality, and hindering sustainable mobility. Many Asian cities face these issues, and as a result, it is often difficult for their street users to experience higher level walking needs, such as comfort and attractiveness, in their daily walking environments. Without such experiences, street users may have difficulty in finding high quality street environments. Visualisation technologies allowing street users to virtually experience more diverse walking needs may assist them in recognising new visions of walkable cities. Accordingly, this study conducts an experimental analysis of walkability evaluations by applying virtual reality tools for evaluating various streets to answer the following research questions: (1) How are street environments related to walking perceptions and behaviours? (2) Is virtual reality visualisation advantageous for revealing these relationships? The research conducted an experiment on virtual reality walkability evaluation that examined perception-based evaluations of street environments in car-reliant large cities of Japan, Thailand, and Australia. The evaluation mechanism of walkability was analysed based on walking needs, taking into account the impact of the virtual reality tools. The results demonstrate that virtual reality evaluation of internationally diverse street environments reflects the sensitivity of walking willingness to the satisfaction of hierarchical walking needs. Further, the impact of virtual reality use was observed in the greater engagement with virtual environments, which is related to higher walking willingness. The results have major implications for planning and design practices, suggesting the potential of virtual reality-based evaluation systems as useful tools for creating and implementing new visions of walkable cities.

Developing Age-Friendly Programs in Greater Manchester, UK: Understanding the Role of Social Infrastructure

This paper considers the critical role of social infrastructure in building age-friendly communities. Drawing on two neighbourhood projects, the paper explores the benefits which different types of social connections bring for older people and the types of spaces in which these connections are produced. It provides support for the importance of ‘natural neighbourhood networks’(Gardner, 2011) by demonstrating how everyday encounters help promote informal networks of support. Following Klinenberg’s (2018) analysis of the importance of social infrastructure, the paper argues that the decline of local high streets, closure of libraries, and cuts to the maintenance of green spaces, reduce opportunities for face-to-face social interactions. The paper presents findings from two studies illustrating the importance of social infrastructure in supporting new forms of community action amongst older people. The paper concludes that that the value of social interactions that occur in everyday mundane spaces needs greater emphasis in public policy.

Review: Powerful Stigmas and Opening Up Possibilities for Reclaiming Food Sovereignty: A Review of Rebecca de Souza’s Feeding the Other: Whiteness, Privilege, and Neoliberal Stigma in Food Pantries

Book Review| December 15 2020 Review: Powerful Stigmas and Opening Up Possibilities for Reclaiming Food Sovereignty: A Review of Rebecca de Souza’s Feeding the Other: Whiteness, Privilege, and Neoliberal Stigma in Food Pantries Feeding the Other: Whiteness, Privilege, and Neoliberal Stigma in Food Pantries, by Rebecca de Souza. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019. 312 pages. $90.00 cloth. $30.00 paperback. Megan Schraedley Megan Schraedley Megan Schraedley is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Correspondence to: Megan Schraedley, Department of Communication and Media, 700 S. High Street, West Chester, PA 19382, USA. Email: mschraedle@wcupa.edu. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Departures in Critical Qualitative Research (2020) 9 (4): 118–120. https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2020.9.4.118 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Megan Schraedley; Review: Powerful Stigmas and Opening Up Possibilities for Reclaiming Food Sovereignty: A Review of Rebecca de Souza’s Feeding the Other: Whiteness, Privilege, and Neoliberal Stigma in Food Pantries. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research 15 December 2020; 9 (4): 118–120. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2020.9.4.118 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentDepartures in Critical Qualitative Research Search “In this book, I argue that stigmatizing narratives that circulate around the hungry serve to uphold the unjust food system and forestall systemic change. Therefore, to bring about broader systemic change, we first need to shift the narratives around what causes hunger and who the hungry are” (4), Rebecca de Souza writes in the Introduction to Feeding the Other—an in-depth ethnographic study of two food pantries in Duluth, MN. De Souza highlights two pantries, Chum Food Shelf and Ruby’s Pantry, bringing to life the paradoxical challenges faced by both individuals and charities. She reimagines how food pantries can be part of the solution to liberate individuals from hunger in the current neoliberal era. De Souza’s book invites readers to wrestle with and understand the sticky web tying stigma (of poverty and hunger), neoliberalism, and intersectionality together through an explanation of these concepts and their connection to power. Organizational... You do not currently have access to this content.

Alcohol and Personal Security in the Built Environment: Student Engagement in the Night-time Economy of Kingston upon Thames, London, UK

London has a diverse and dynamic night-time economy (NTE) valued in 2018 at £5 billion. The London Assembly’s vision for future growth includes creative partnerships with outer-London boroughs to share opportunity and minimise economic decline in suburban high streets. Studies from cities across the UK recognise the contribution of University students to the NTE, but the situation in suburban London is under-researched. This exploratory study based on evidence from 604 University students in Kingston upon Thames (London) addresses that issue. It identifies relationships between time-based activity spaces of student life style and the built environment; defines time-phases and levels of alcohol consumption reconstructing journey-to-drink movements; identifies patterns of night-time expenditure; positions activity spaces in student life style within a framework of management control and local crime environments; and examines town centre issues of victimisation and personal security. The study advocates further policy-informed studies of under-researched groups in the mosaic of recreational spaces throughout London’s NTE.

Indies in Scotland: Exploring the Unique Role of Independent Bookshops in Scotland\u2019s Towns and Villages

This project explores the business practices and cultural place of independent bookshops in Scotland. The research examines the connections that independent bookshops have with their various stakeholders, and investigates the support and policy change bookshops require in order to survive and prosper. The research finds a wealth of expertise and business acumen across Scottish independent booksellers, uniquely driven by a commitment to literacy, community and a love of books. A strong contribution to communities, welfare and social capital is identified. Policy recommendations are made, which recognise the cultural and community contributions made by bookshops, as well as proposing that bookshops be at the centre of policy planning around the regeneration of high streets.