Rise of the High Street - How Brisbane Suburbs Compare

Much like how TV killed the Radio star - it was the mall that killed the suburban high street. But it appears that as online shopping brings the end of the mall, city-dwellers are returning to the high streets once again.

Rising rents and the boom of online shopping have both caused declines in multi-purpose shopping centres. As has consumers’ increasing interest in bespoke and boutique products, which has caused a resurgence in high streets.

Research published in January by the Journal of Urban Design, led by Dr Dorina Pojani, studied 10 of Brisbane’s suburbs and how their high streets are designed.

Boundary St in West End, Grey St in South Brisbane and James St in Fortitude Valley were some suburbs used as benchmarks for the other case study streets.

In comparison, the research found the Brisbane high streets outside the 10-kilometre inner-city circle measured are poorly designed and unwelcoming to residents, needing a rethink of how such key shopping strips are designed to foster genuine community.

The research said that newer cities, such as Brisbane, which have been created after the introduction of the automobile have a greater difficulty in attracting foot traffic.

The research author, Dr Pojani, said while Sydney and Melbourne were designed around the traditional concept of suburban neighbourhoods, each with its individual shopping strip, Brisbane was far more central-city focused.

“Brisbane remains very very monocentric and that worked well for us as a city I think when Brisbane was still very small,” Dr Pojani said.

“Imagine somebody’s workday, they get up in the morning in the suburbs, they commute to the CBD, they go back to the suburb, have dinner with family, and then if the suburb was close enough to the CBD there was still time to go out to catch a show.

“But now the city is more spread out it doesn’t work … there’s just no time, it’s not convenient. So then it would be good if people had some of the amenities closer to home.

“If they were to go home in the evening there would be some shops, some restaurants and cafes, and a movie theatre in a high street nearby.”