The spatial dynamics of commercial activity in central Sunderland

Abstract

A case study of the changing structure and behaviour of a commercial core of Sunderland is presented in the light of pertinent strands of theory. Considerable change is observed involving both internal reorganisation as well as external relocations. In 1800 the commercial core of Sunderland was a small and functionally mixed area tied very closely to the river and the port trade. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the commercial core expanded and shifted in response to economic change and the spread of residential areas. The modern C.A., therefore, contains greater functional segregation and more intense commercial activity. The present C.A. is delimited according to generally accepted methods. The spatial behaviour of commercial establishments is investigated with respect to birth, life, death, directional and distance parameters. The responses of individual managers and firms to changing circumstances in central Sunderland are surveyed. General spatial patterns are discernible at varying scales which confirm expected tendencies. Finally, some generalisations on the process of commercial change in a central area are suggested by reference to a flow diagram and set of indices, which hold for all places and at all times.