A COMMERCIAL-BLIGHT PERSPECTIVE ON METROPOLITAN COMMERCIAL STRUCTURE

More and more attention is being paid to issues associated with urban decline. Many types of decline affecting different locations and functional usages in the city have been identified, including 'deterioration' (Simmons, 1966), 'decay' (Medhurst and Parry Lewis, 1969), 'stagnation' (Alexander, 1974), 'dereliction' (Bugler, 1972), 'obsolescence' (Davies and Whinston, 1966), and 'blight' (Berry, 1963;McKean, 1977). This list, although not exhaustive, indicates the confusion surrounding the issue of decline, since distinctions are rarely made among these conditions in terms of timing, effects, or types of remedial or preventive action. In this paper we focus on the concept of 'blight' and in particular the classifications of commercial structure that have been used to further our understanding of this issue. In the process our understanding of the other forms of decline may also have been advanced.