Rowan Moore points to the bright side of the recent closure of a number of retail outlets in London. As he says:
“… The shrinkage of high street shopping – probably, thanks to the internet, never to return in the same way – brings back something London has recently lacked, and once had in abundance and to its great benefit. This is what could be called slack space: spare, hard-to-let property that allows creative and ingenious people to experiment and set up new businesses. It is the fallow land of a city, allowing it to renew itself.Slack space enabled design businesses, production companies and publishers to start up.”
He goes on to give a number of examples of how slack spaces have contributed to making London the city it is. Give it a read, it’s worth it, and see if you can think of any other kinds of social or economic slack spaces that may emerge from the current economic and financial turmoil. i am sure they will, it is just that I haven’t spotted any yet.