This paper starts with a sad story illustrated by two pictures of poplar High Street in London. The first shows a scene from the past, full of life, shops, useful services, dirt and vitality. The second shows the street today, devoid of life, bounded by railings and dominated by parked cars. Such is the death of the high street about which, Carmona argues, something should be done. The health of our high streets is something that we should care deeply about. While high streets exist because of the workings of the market, they are intensely social and diverse places, good for the environment, good for the economy and central to people's sense of wellbeing and feelings about the place where they live. We can't just let them die. The paper paints a compelling if slightly London centric picture of the super-diverse high streets of the past, with a rich mix of uses both above and behind the shops. Indeed the ground floor shops may not be the dominant land-use in terms of floor area, turnover or employment and yet, like a keystone species in a complex eco-system they are the key to its survival.
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