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How neighbourhoods in Canada can repurpose storefronts left empty by COVID-19 pandemic

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As the economic impact of COVID-19 leaves more empty storefronts and public spaces in some communities, one researcher says that could drive people away for good.

So he suggests cities repurpose abandoned buildings as community centres and set up more temporary markets and pop-up stores, among other measures.

“Pretty much every main street or shopping district has seen better days,” Jim Morrow, author of “A Field Guide for Activating Space,” told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.

The blight of shuttered businesses can lead people to avoid entire areas, said Morrow, an environmental sociologist with the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies at the University of Alberta.

“Not very many people want to live where other people don’t have a pride of place,” he said.

Although COVID-19 restrictions are some of the biggest contributors to the more recent storefront closures, he also pointed out that other factors were driving the trend well before COVID-19. These include more big box stores popping up and the rise of online shopping pushing some companies to pivot away from brick-and-mortar stores.

But Canada has a lot of positive examples to turn to, said Morrow, who’s looked at successful examples of space reactivation in other countries such as Germany, Belgium, Cuba, South Africa, Ecuador, Denmark, China and the U.S.

He suggested cities and towns set up more pop-ups shops, temporary stalls or markets in empty buildings or areas with empty storefronts.

Morrow also said more foot traffic could be shored up if entire streets are closed off for al-fresco dining.

Other historical examples include how, in the 1980s, abandoned steel mills in Sheffield, England were transformed into concert venues.

In the 2010s, an abandoned factory in Brussels, Belgium was transformed into a multi-use building housing theatre classes, artist spaces, and even a workshop for steelwork. Empty lots in Canada could be turned into urban farms and gardens, like cities in Cuba did in the 1990s, he said.

Morrow also pointed out that in some cities, community centres have been set up In abandoned department stores or malls. And in places close to Edmonton, where Morrow lives, a defunct gas station was even transformed into a pop-up dog park.

Although he suggests municipalities and cities should be offering more economic incentives to businesses and developers to transform empty lots, he notes that many already do, and it unfortunately hasn’t greatly turned around the trend of empty storefronts

Morrow’s most costly and time-consuming suggestion was having cities undergo a total rebuild of certain neighbourhoods. He said in cities such as Paris, city planners are using the pandemic to rejig streets and alleyways long-term, so residents can access more of what they need within a 15-minute walk or trip on public transit.

PEOPLE LOSE SENSE OF COMMUNITY: MORROW

He said when economic infrastructure collapses, it can be followed by people losing public spaces to connect and find something in common.

Morrow also said that the longer a storefront sits empty, the harder it is to turn around. So city planners and community advocates need to act fast.

“It’s like a house or an apartment, where things that should’ve been fixed yesterday compound and get more expensive [to fix].”

“People lose hope and feel left behind,” Morrow said, suggesting this could also be playing a role in the higher rates of loneliness seen among Canadians during the pandemic.

“If this trend of loneliness continues, we really risk a disfigured society.”

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