Whilst political uncertainty and the growth of online shopping may be two of the latest challenges in the retail industry, our towns and city centres have always been shaped by a series of technological, social and political revolutions.

The purpose of this talk is to examine how, after many years of mono-functionality focused upon retailing, our centres are experiencing something of a renaissance, and remerging as multi-functional ones, supporting leisure and recreation, employment, tourism, heritage, culture, housing, employment, education, health and wellbeing as well as retail. But how should retail adapt to this new normal?

Speaker

Simon Quin is the Institute’s Director of Place Management and is Practitioner Editor of the Journal of Place Management and Development. He was Chief Executive of the Association of Town Centre Management for six years where he oversaw a tripling of membership, making it the world’s largest organisation of its type, the introduction of Business Improvement Districts to the UK and the development of the Purple Flag awards.

He has served on the Boards of the Washington-based International Downtown Association and of Town Centre Management Europe (TOCEMA). He was a founding Director of the UK’s National Skills Academy for Retail. He serves on the Project for Public Spaces (New York) Leadership Council and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

He has spoken on issues relating to place management in over twenty countries and, when not travelling, he is an active gardener and land manager.

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