Beyond retail - what else can high streets do?  With huge economic and technological shifts over the past two decades, it’s clear that high streets won’t continue to exist much longer in their present, retail-focussed form.

In this session, three speakers will explore present and future functions of high streets which go beyond retail. Melissa Meyer, senior project and policy officer for social integration and the built environment at the GLA, co-authored the High Streets for all (2017) report which established the strong social value of high streets. Dr Gayle Rogers is an artist who started the 'Workers Gallery' in a disused library on a high street in Ynyshir in the Welsh Valleys. Simon Quinis co-Chair of the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Met and is co-author of two significant research studies on changing high streets. High Street UK 2020 and Bringing Big Data to Small Users.  The high street is the ideal place for core civic activities, not just shopping: prepare to get excited about the future of the high street.