With retail in retreat, a strategic opening for mixed-use?

Recently, an excellent Guardian Business podcast discussed the precariousness of UK high streets as many household names in retail go out of business.

The debate unintentionally steered towards the implications that the global economic downturn poses for urban (re)development, which made me think back to some of the issues covered by a previous blog post which used a local indoor mall near Sacramento as a case to illustrate the broader geographical competition over development between traditionally central parts of cities and peripheral regions. What my post lacked, and what the perceptive Guardian contributors point out, are the profound consequences that economic and financial fluctuations have for the urban landscape. These implications even intimate a more optimistic future for environmental planning:

Camden High Street in London,
and in her (fading?) glory

1. High streets inside and outside the UK are having to creatively revamp the spaces vacated by capsized retailers. This may translate into designating spaces that were once occupied by retail for other uses, such as converting spaces above surviving retail stores into apartments. This post-planning phase of mixed-use development would provide a range of commercial and residential unit sizes and options in central districts that already tend to be accessible by multiple modes of transportation. 

Perth High Street, although Australia
has weathered the crisis better than most

2. Stalled developments resulting from the financial crisis and a battered construction industry have the opportunity to be rethought, contested, and revised. For my current internship I've had to review pre-crisis housing development proposals that were targeted for smart growth policies. It was frustrating (yet unsurprising) to see that, after undergoing mandatory environmental reviews, city council members permitted the most sprawl-worthy developments to carry on without motivating any internalization of suggestions, even when the most minor modifications would increase density and support several state laws to reduce carbon emissions. 

Fortunately, the momentum to enforce laws to fight climate change in the State of California has been relatively sustained while developers are still hesitant move forward, allowing environmental groups that consulted (and lost) during the review process to regain their bearings. Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic because I also want all of this to actually happen, on a grand scale - but I am an aspiring and idealistic environmental planner after all, so sue me.