7.4 - The Strategic Approach
The following strategic approach will be taken to support and promote the city centre and the city’s urban villages and retail:
- Align the retail hierarchy for the city to the settlement hierarchy of the core strategy in order to enhance and consolidate the city centre and to create mixed use, lively and vibrant urban villages and neighbourhoods throughout the city.
- Place sustainability and climate resilience as the over-arching consideration in the development of the city centre and urban villages with a particular emphasis on healthy streets, active travel and public transport accessibility, building on the 15 minute city concept, the primacy of the city centre and the vitality and viability of existing and emerging centres.
- Provide a vibrant mix of shopping, leisure, office and residential uses, third spaces and family friendly attractions in the city centre thereby, offering shoppers an experience and a depth of offer that attracts suburban shoppers / workers / tourist / students / residents to shop, socialise and spend time in the city centre.
- Promote and consolidate the role of Key Urban Villages so that they provide for sustainable urban living, they serve the community / social / cultural / civic needs of the local communities in which they exist and a level of retail development commensurate to their catchment.
- Promote and consolidate the role of urban villages and neighbourhood centres so that they can provide convenient and attractive access by walking and cycling to local goods and services needed on a day-to-day basis.
- Recognise the importance of placemaking and an attractive public realm and its contribution to supporting city centre retail, enhanced pedestrian amenities and developing the city centre and urban villages as key destinations.
- Place an emphasis on healthy place making in the city centre and in all urban centres with initiatives tailored towards making these centres better places to live and to visit.