Sheffield - Revitalising CBD's in MEDC's

•The rise of the motorcar and the cheapness of land at the edge of the city led to a rise in out of town shopping centres from the 1960's to 1980's.  Shopping centres such as Meadowhall in Sheffield, Lakeside in Essex and the Metro Centre Gateshead all developed and posed a threat to city centre shopping.  At the same time, a lack of investment in the CBD (central Business District) led to the dereliction of some buildings and a general decline in the shopping environment.  In addition, city centres suffered from crowding, poor air quality, a crime-ridden image and poor parking availability.  There was genuine concern that many CBDs would not survive.

•Initiatives were put into place in order to try and protect and revitalise the CBDs of many cities;

Several areas of the city centre have been designated as quarters. It is home to the city's major business, transport, leisure and cultural attractions. The City centre is currently under going massive re-generation with every section of the City centre set to be re-developed. Plans and projects include the development of new squares and public spaces, new residential and office buildings including St. Paul’s Tower, Velocity Living, and the under-construction Velocity Tower, the Sevenstone and Moor shopping areas, redevelopment of existing buildings such as the Crucible Theatre and better transport and shopping facilities and new cultural attractions such as museums and art galleries.

The central district of Sheffield is home to the Town Hall and the major shopping areas of Fargate, Orchard Square and Commercial Street. The Heart of the City area, as its name suggests, lies at the centre of this zone and encompasses the Town Hall and Peace Gardens, a major focal point for people in the city. Adjacent to this is St Paul’s Place, in centre of Sheffield, a new mixed use development lying between the Town Hall and Arundel Gate, one of the major roads running through the city centre. Sheffield’s largest building, St Paul’s Tower, is situated on the edge of St Paul’s place, close to both the Town Hall and Sheffield Station. At the opposite end of Fargate to the Town Hall is the cathedral Quarter. Here there are numerous law firms and employment agencies, as well as numerous shops and the city centre hub for the Sheffield Supertram.

New and future developments

In recent years there have been numerous new developments in Sheffield city centre seeing a large number of new additions to the skyline. Most of this work has been carried out under the guidance of teh 'city centre masterplan 2008' and examples of its progress can be seen at Tudor square, Riverside, castlegate and the sheffield digital campus

Sheaf sqare and the sheffield station have also been heavily redeveloped and are due to see extra improvements in the next few years. In the west end area of the university of Sheffield has invested in a number of new facilities and student accomodation and sheffield hallam university has greatly improved the area outside its main campus on Arundel Gate also

Sheffield’s shopping areas are in the process of redevelopment and when finished will attract business from further afield than ever before. The Moor, once Sheffield’s busiest shopping street, is being completely redeveloped although plans have been interrupted by the recession. The Sevenstone/New Retail Quarter development, due to redevelop a substantial portion of the west side of the city centre, has been suspended due to governmental spending cuts. Hammerson, the developer of the site, has recently restarted work on the NRQ, which is now valued at £150 Million.

Events to attract people to Sheffield

Sheffield city centre is host to a multitude of events, ranging from small farmers markets to international sporting events. Sheffield International venues and sheffield theatres maintain the larger venues whilst several others are managed privately

Sports

Ponds forge international sports centre, on the edge of the city centre, is host to numerous national and international sporting events, notably swimming and basketball

The crucible theatre, in tudor square, is host to the world snooker championships and has been so since 1977. During the event there is considerable media activity in the area and it is the dominant event on the theatres schedule.

Theatre

Sheffield is home to the greatest concentration of theatres in the UK outside London. These include the Crucible, Lyecum, Montogomery and studio theatres.

Live events

The city centre is home to numerous venues which attract many well known musicians, comedians, theatre groups and so on. Examples include the City Hall, O2 Academy, plug and the Lyceum and crucible theatres.

Sheffield city centre is now host to its own music festival, tramlines. This event, entry to which is free, was first organised in 2009 and takes place at several venues across Sheffield, notably in the city centre

Markets

Sheffield city centre plays host to a number of themed markets throughout the year with most taking place on Fargate, in the peace gardens or at barkers pool. Themes include continental (european food, crafts etc.), German (Christmas market) Italian, Tunisian and occasionally global themed narkets take place. There are also farmers and craft markets taking place throughout the year.

Rail

•Sheffield station lies on the edge of the city centre and is within easy walking distance to the main shopping areas. This station lies at the northern end of the Midland Mainline which begins at St Pancras International, thus affording Sheffield a direct connection to the capital and also Europe, via the Eurostar. Direct connections to other major UK cities are also available. Sheffield Station is connected to the central zone of the city centre by Sheaf Square and Howard street which leads to Arundel Gate at the Heart of the City.

Supertram

Sheffield possesses its own tram system known as the Sheffield supertram. It operates on three routes, all of which run through the city centre, the cathedral square stop forming a focal point for operations

Coaches

National Express coaches serve Sheffield city cnetre direct through the Sheffield Interchange. The 560/564 service connects directly to London Victoria coach station (only occasionally stopping at chesterfield and milton keynes en route). Numerous other services connect Sheffield to destinations across the UK and all of them depart/arrive at Sheffield Interchange.

Buses

Sheffield city centre is home to the Sheffield Interchange. In recent years it has lost importance as SYPTE have constructed several 'mim-interchanges' around the city centre to accommodate shopping and other activities which are poorly accommodated by teh interchange. However, many services depart from/arrive here and it is within a short walking distance of Sheffield station. The 'freebee', a zero-fare city centre bus service operates out of the interchange and serves some of the key shopping areas in teh city centre

Road

In a bid to improve the city centre, several major thoroughfares which were once open to the public have in recent decades been pedestrianised. As a consequence there are fewer options for car drivers in the city centre. The city centreis encircled by the inner ring road which connects to the sheffield parkway at park square and this in turn connects to the M1 motorway.

Fargate

Fargate is a major pedestrianised street in teh heart of the city with its southern end lying outside the town hall. Also located at this point is the wheel of Sheffield, a major landmark on the Sheffield skyline. Several well known high street stores have a presence in this area or the connecting areas of Orchard square or commercial street.

The moor

The moor has historically been one of Sheffield's most popular shopping zones. Like Fargate, it is a pedestrianised area and plays host to markets (although on a more permanent basis than Fargate). The moor has become run down in recent years and is in the midst of redevelopment, with new urban landscaping already in place and a new, large indoor market due to open in teh near future.

New retail Quarter/Sevenstone

Due for completion in the early 2010s, NRQ/sevenstone will be a major shopping/living area adding 250 new shops to teh city centre. As of 2010 the project is on hold due to governmental spending cuts

Riverside

The riverside exchange is a new, large business district in the north of the city centre and is home to organisations such as Irwin Mitchell and the UK border agency

West Street/Devonshire Quarter

The west end district of the city centre is home to many shops, particularly catering for the large student population in the area.

Also within the central zone is the Moor, once Sheffield's primary shopping area. In recent years it has become run down and has lost some of its popularity. However, redevelopment of the area has recently begun and the markets previously occupying the main pedestrian zone have been cleared to make way for a new boulevard style thoroughfare.To accommodate the displaced market stalls, a new market building is being built in the area, due for completion in 2011

In late 2006, the "connet Sheffield" scheme came into being. A part of this scheme, vehicle signage was improved by dividing the centre into four main areas (separate from the quarters) using electronic messaging panels with information about congestion and available parking, information about transport and visitor attractions (e.g. cathedral, winter gardens). A new map of the city centre will be produced in print and online, travel information panels in bus interchanges have been made clearer and the yournextbus system was rolled out into LED boards telling passengers when teh next bus is due at their stop using GPS technology.