Southampton: site settlement factors and CBD redevelopment

Southampton: Site Settlement Factors:

We know that before the Romans there has been a settlement in Southampton; what factors make it such a good place to build a town:

· Proximity to the New Forest for building materials.
· Abundance of fresh water supply from 2 rivers.
· Abundance of natural food supply in the forest and the sea.
· Moderate to flat relief making building easy.
· Excellent natural port facilities, 2 major rivers and sheltered from the prevailing wind by the Isle of Wight.
· Easy communication links to the mainland of Europe.

Modern Southampton

· During the war Southampton was the location for a number of German targets, including the Spitfire factory. It was therefore bombed heavily.
· In the Post war period until the 1970’s there was rapid period of council house and industrial rebuilding, often with little thought to the layout or the ambience.
· The main industry of the city has always been docks, and much of this also became quite heavily mechanised, meaning high unemployment.
· The city therefore experienced a negative multiplier effect, wherby people had little or no disposable income and therefore shops and services shut down. Also the CBD was relatively unpleasant with unsafe pedestrian access and high crime rates.
· Any shopping that did occur was generally in out of town shopping centres such as Hedge End and Whitely Village.
· During the early 1990’s the City council in order to tackle all the above problems began a process of redevelopment to breathe life back into the city.
· They realised for people to come back to the city, they needed shops and services people would use, as well as jobs for unemployed. They also recognized that much of the city was quite unattractive and needed rebuilding with more careful consideration.

The following video gives us an insight into the 'atmosphere' of a typical UK CBD in the mid 1980's, as well as some of the causes for it's decline:

What have Southampton City Council done to try and redevelop the CBD?

For a redevelopment project to be successful and sustainable (i.e last into the future) the city needs to have a prosperous core. Therefore as well as getting people back into the CBD for shopping and entertainment, there also needs to jobs that will last and opportunities for enterprise. This will then cause a 'positive multiplier effect' as if local people can make money and be successful they will spend their money on local services.

• Unlike a lot of modern regeneration projects Southampton's strategy has had to incorporate much of the light manufacturing and dock facilities that remain within the CBD fringes. With other similar cities (e.g. London, Bristol) the docks have been relocated further downstream to the estuary mouths and the former dock sites gentrified.
• Two of the most notable aspects of the regeneration has been the West Quay shopping centre which opened in 2000 and claims to be the largest town centre shopping mall in Europe. The success of this project was secured by ensuring favourable rates for high profile tenants such as John Lewis and Abercrombie and Fitch. As well as this on the adjacent West Quay retail park IKEA opened a branch in 2009, this has ensured a continual flow of visitors to the area from all over the central south and south west region.
• Redevelopment has also taken place in some of the old dock sites, most notable being the ocean village marina development where penthouse style apartments exist above wine-bar and upmarket eateries. Town Quay has also been redeveloped alongside Ocean Village in a similar manner, and each year plays host to the Southampton International Boat show.
• Former Brownfield industrial sites have been remediated to house leisure and entertainment complexes such as the Quays Swimming and Leisure centre, Leisure World Cinema and St. Mary’s Southampton FC Stadium.

p.s you will get all of this on a hard copy from your geog teacher, cheers Mr.B.