Shoppotopes: An Urban Strategy to Create a Pedestrian Friendly Network of Retail Nodes with Specific Identities Throughout Auckland’s CBD

Abstract

Before I moved to New Zealand I was impressed by a typology of very successful retail environments that emerged in China. I defined it shoppotope, with reference to the terms biotope or soziotope, to describe a characteristic environment where specific conditions attribute retail spaces with high identity. I started exploring two developments. Xin Tian Di, where some historical buildings have been remodelled and new retail facilities added, quickly became a highlight of Shanghai’s retail environment and a tourist destination. Taikoo Li Sanlitun Village repeated the success when a new retail complex was built along the famous San Li Tun bar street in Beijing's central Chaoyang district. Both developments broke the typical model of the predominant indoor shopping and provided outdoor environments that felt more like traditional city quarters with a lively mix of retail, food and beverage, and entertainment. Several renowned cases, such as Beijing's 798 Art District and Tian Zi Fang in Shanghai, followed these models through adaptive reuse of existing factory or residential complexes. I found these spaces interesting as they provide high quality urban environments, where shopping feels authentic, unlike the sterility of typical shopping malls. These places became destinations and nodes of high identity within the urban fabric. They became role models for urban design in China, with many developers trying to copy their success. Auckland’s Britomart has similar characteristics: a heritage precinct with a successful mix of activities and public spaces. At its centre is an urban square, a public gathering place with a good mix of retail, food and beverage, and entertainment operations that have a clear identity in terms of design and marketing. These characteristics can also be seen emerging in the City Works Depot, but its contained dimension limits its growth. My thesis proposal takes advantage of these examples and develops an integrated scheme for the central district of Auckland to create a network of nodes, each with a distinctive shoppotope character. Each node is intended as a destination and is within three hundred metres of its neighbours. The new network could turn Auckland into a city of flâneurs, who passionately wander from urban highlight to highlight, from shoppotope to shoppotope.