Depsite a change in local laws that let businesses stay open 90 minutes later, few businesses in the northwestern Swiss city of Basel have extended hours, worrying officials that their idea of creating the "largest shopping center in the region" has fallen short.
"This promotional offensive was prompted by the fact that Basel's stores can now be open on weekdays till 8 p.m. and till 6 p.m. on Saturdays thanks to the new rest day and shop opening hours law passed in October last year. The moderate extension of opening hours by six hours per week had been fought for years by the commercial industry."
"Store opening hours, the employers argued back then, had to be adjusted to modern lifestyle, as well as to the habits in the agglomeration and across the border. Otherwise stores downtown would continue to die. According to a study of the Office of Statistics, one fifth of all stores downtown did indeed close between 1991 and 2001; roughly 4,000 jobs were lost."
"One year after the promised opening Basel is presenting itself more as a shopping desert than an oasis or a paradise. If you want to shop after 7 p.m. you will find more closed than open doors, even on Thursdays and Fridays."
FULL STORY: Shopping in the evening becomes a gamble
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Guerilla urbanists are building DIY bus stop benches in Chicago
A before-and-after of one of the bus stops with a new bench. The new benches are not officially sanctioned or permitted, but the residents who placed them hope they will be the start of a network of DIY benches across the city.
Mamdani overhauls NYC's Vision Zero plan with 100 new policy goals
The overhaul aims to reduce traffic deaths and make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers through lower speed limits, new safety infrastructure and more.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association