The empty building that used to be the home of Marks & Spencer in Aberdeen is one of the first things you see when you arrive off the train and come into the city centre.
asserted
you → use → centre
The sign has gone, though the shape of the lettering can still be made out; the windows are blacked out and the doors boarded up.
asserted
doors → go → lettering
As a teenager, I spent hours on Union Street, its main thoroughfare, nicknamed the Granite Mile after the local silver-grey stone.
asserted
I → spend → stone
It was the place to try on all the latest fashions from the likes of Clockhouse and Chelsea Girl.
asserted
It → try → Clockhouse
The street used to be packed with shoppers from across the north-east of Scotland.
asserted
street → use → Scotland
"I come to Union Street to take a bus somewhere else...
asserted
I → come → bus
it's horrendous," complains Marie Sim, a lifelong Aberdeen resident.
asserted
Sim → complain → ?
It's a similar story across the country: High Streets, once bursting with shops, hit first by the rise of out-of-town retail centres and then by online commerce.
asserted
Streets → burst → commerce
The port city has essentially declared war on its empty shop problem, taking an unusually hands-on approach to filling vacant units and bringing long-neglected upper floors of buildings into use.
asserted
city → declare → use
On top of that, the council is pouring tens of millions into trying to make the city centre a destination again.
asserted
centre → pour → millions
Like many other places, it's leaning into the "experience economy", with a new indoor food and drink market and a major redevelopment of the seafront.
asserted
it → lean → seafront
High Streets are integral to how we feel about where we live.
asserted
we → feel → ?
The sight of vacant shops and graffiti can quickly become a vicious circle, deterring shoppers, discouraging investment and leading to anti-social behaviour.
asserted
sight → become → behaviour
Politicians of all stripes have been trying for years to breathe new life into town centres - and Andy Burnham, who has made a focus on "place" part of his political identity, is the latest.
asserted
who → try → identity
He argues they should become "symbols of Britain's renaissance".
asserted
they → argue → renaissance
But can it be achieved?
asserted
it → achieve → ?
And if they're to survive, do town centres need a fundamental rethink?
asserted
centres → survive → rethink
One in eight properties on British High Streets are currently vacant, according to Green Street, the property and retail analytics company, a number that's stayed stubbornly high for years.
"If there was a silver bullet, it would have been fired years ago," says Jackie Sadek, a former government adviser on urban regeneration, who has spent nearly four decades working in town centre renewal.
uncertain
who → accord → renewal
One of the biggest obstacles is fractured ownership.
asserted
One → fracture → obstacles
Shops and buildings are often owned by dozens of different landlords, sometimes through offshore companies or complex structures, each with their own interests and priorities.
asserted
Shops → own → interests
That can slow decision-making and make large-scale regeneration difficult.
asserted
regeneration → slow → making
But even with empty units that are available, you need to find someone willing to take them on.
Many units are old and need modernising.
asserted
units → need → modernising
The cost of running a High Street business has also risen; employment costs are higher, and there's the burden of business rates.
asserted
costs → run → rates
Firms need customers.
asserted
Firms → need → customers
Footfall on many High Streets has been in long-term decline as shopping and services move online, and this enormous structural shift has yet to play out fully.
asserted
shift → move → decline
Two-thirds of town centre experts think there is still 20% to 40% too much retail space, according to a survey by retail body Revo and real estate consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton.
uncertain
thirds → think → Revo
In Aberdeen's boom years of North Sea oil, from the late 1970s through to the early 2010s, it didn't have to work hard to fill its hotels and restaurants and get the cash tills ringing because of the wealth the energy industry brought to the city.
asserted
industry → have → city
I remember weekends with friends as a teenager, spending whatever cash we had in the fashion chains and shoe shops.
asserted
we → remember → chains
Later came the pubs and bar-hopping, and trips to the art deco Capitol Theatre (now office space), where I saw Duran Duran.
asserted
I → come → Duran
But by the end of 2022, Union Street had hit rock bottom.
asserted
Street → hit → bottom
Aberdonians had long deserted the High Street for a shopping centre, which opened in 2009 next to the railway station.
asserted
which → desert → station
"They'd fallen out of love with their city," says Bob Keiller, head of Our Union Street coalition, a community-led group formed after an emergency summit to reverse the decline.
asserted
Keiller → fall → decline
The first thing it did was listen to what residents wanted, receiving thousands of submissions.
asserted
residents → do → submissions
Restoring a bit of civic pride and filling empty units became the focus.
asserted
Restoring → restore → units
It's been a co-ordinated effort, involving letting agents, the council, landlords, businesses and a big team of volunteers, led by Keiller, a former FTSE 100 CEO, who isn't getting paid.
asserted
who → involve → Keiller
He has a map on his office wall, detailing the status of every property, unit by unit, with colour-coded Post-it notes.
asserted
He → have → notes
They audited the street, tracking down absent landlords, and logging what was empty and why.
asserted
what → audit → landlords
Volunteers offered to give the empty properties a clean and a lick of paint, to make them more attractive to let.
asserted
them → offer → paint
They also spruced up the streets, picking litter, weeding, and painting bins.
asserted
They → spruce → bins
A small team still goes out once a fortnight.
asserted
team → go → ?
…and 63 more, not listed.
The Aporia
