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The global spread of the supermarket and the planned shopping centre is transforming retail space in the Latin American city. Nevertheless, market-place trading has continued to flourish in most cities and is itself a key element of retail change. A case study of Quito shows how new periodic markets have been established and that, as demand density grows, these are consolidated into daily markets. Much of the dynamism in market-place trading is associated with government intervention, with principal policies being the creation of markets in poorly served urban areas and a reduction in the concentration of market-place trading in the historic centre. Speculations about competition and complementarity between supermarket and market underline the need for further research and an understanding of the consumption patterns which support the continued heterogeneity of retail forms in the Latin American city.

Informal commerce, characterized by market and street trading activities, thrives in the central areas of many Latin American cities. Focusing on the neglected spatial dimension of informal commerce, the paper traces its considerable expansion in the historic centre of Quito in Ecuador since the early 1970s and examines the issues which have prompted municipal intervention. An early municipal response involves some attempts at redistribution of informal commerce, justified by essentially functional issues such as hygiene and congestion. However, the introduction of conservation policy and the way this policy evolved to embrace a broad concern for the urban environment is associated with the emergence of an aesthetic/cultural discourse in attitudes towards informal commerce. The authorities are increasingly motivated towards 'selling' a new image of the historic centre and encouraging new economies oriented towards the tourist and a relatively wealthy clientele. Moves to exclude informal commerce have concentrated on the most visible spaces, particularly those of the principal squares. Although informal trade hidden from view continues to thrive, only time and further research will show whether the re‐presentation of the historic centre and the promotion of new economies will finally effect the exclusion of informal commerce as a culmination of long‐term efforts to control its occupation of space.Le commerce officieux, caractérisé par les activités commerciales dans les rues et sur les marchés, est prospère dans les zones centrales de nombreuses villes d'Amérique latine. Se concentrant sur la dimension spatiale du commerce officieux, jusqu'à présent négligée, cet article retrace son expansion considérable dans le centre historique de Quito, dans l'Équateur, depuis le début des années 1970, et examine les raisons qui ont poussé la municipalitéà intervenir. Dans les premiers temps, les réponses de la municipalité ont inclus des tentatives de redistribution du commerce officieux, justifiées par des problèmes principalement fonctionnels tels que l'hygiène et les encombrements. Cependant, l'introduction d'une politique de conservation et la fa??on dont cette politique a évolué afin d'inclure des préoccupations plus larges quant à l'environnement urbain sont associées à la naissance d'un discours esthétique/culturel des attitudes quant au commerce officieux. Les autorités sont de plus en plus incitées à'vendre' une image nouvelle du centre historique et à encourager les économies nouvelles orientées vers le tourisme et vers une clientèle relativement aisée. Les tentatives d'exclusion du commerce officieux se sont concentrées sur les espaces les plus visibles, en particulier ceux des places principales. Bien que le commerce officieux caché continue à prospérer, ce n'est que dans l'avenir et en faisant d'autres études que l'on pourra savoir si la re‐présentation du centre historique et la promotion des nouvelles économies, point culminant des efforts ?ˆ long terme pour contrôler son occupation de l'espace, influenceront finalement l'exclusion du commerce officieux.

In contrast to the adult and aspatial focus of much research, this paper examines older children's feelings of fear/safety in two contrasting British urban residential areas, and in the nearby city centre. In their home areas, children in the deprived area feel less safe than those in the wealthier suburb. However, in the city centre, the poorer-area children feel safer than their wealthier-area counterparts, suggesting a home-area moderating effect. Regarding gendered-area differences in safety, boys and girls have similar perspectives on their home areas, but significant gender differences exist for the city centre. Area should be a key dimension in conceptual frameworks for understanding fear and safety, with due awareness of home and nonhome areas, and gendered-area differences. Explanations for children's anxieties indicate the importance of fear of groups of teenagers and the relevance of social disorganization. Tackling the perceived problem of teenage groups should be one policy priority in urban areas in which social disorder is pronounced.

Change has characterised the retail environment of British cities since the mid 1960s. Many new retail forms have emerged which have often impacted adversely on the traditional retail hierarchy. Evidence suggests that the middle order, comprising small towns, district centres and small market towns, has been particularly affected adversely and the potential for 'a spiral of decline' in many such centres has been suggested widely. Thus, many communities face the prospect of losing their commercial and social foci. Central and local government activity has aimed intermittently to redress this problem by a combination of constraint on new developments and the stimulation of renewal in the traditional centres. This article seeks to examine whether the reinvestment process has improved the commercial situation of a small town in the context of strong local competition and continued retail decentralisation. The evidence presented suggests that it is possible to reverse the commercial fortunes of a middle-order traditional centre, even in the context of considerable competition from the newer retail forms. The continued decline of potentially strong middle-order shopping centres is not the inevitable result of the process of retail transformation.

Over the past 30 years the pre-eminent commercial status of the city centre in the retail system of British cities has been challenged by the competitive impact of retail decentralisation. A contemporaneous decentralisation of office and leisure activities has exacerbated the situation. At the same time, early redevelopment strategies have created significant degrees of spatial fragmentation between functions and the loss of a substantial residential population. In the contemporary social climate, these changes have resulted in negative implications for the perception of safety and the generation of fear and anxiety amongst all users of the city centre. Consequently, safety issues have accentuated the emerging problems of the city centres, particularly for evening and night-time activities. City-centre revitalisation strategies have increasingly aimed to extend 'vitality and viability' beyond the temporal divide associated with the '5pm flight'. This has involved the incorporation of the '24-hour city' concept. However, this strategy has proved problematic due to the negative perceptions of safety, which are associated with the emergence of an 'exclusionary' youth culture in many major cities in recent years. This paper seeks to examine the nature and scale of the obstacles to the revitalisation of the evening and night-time economy and culture of Swansea and Cardiff in order the better to inform strategies which aim to instigate the 24-hour city concept. The study reveals substantial obstacles to the realisation of a vibrant 24-hour city, the scale of which suggests the need for considerable and concerted planning and development efforts if they are to be overcome. Many opportunities exist but the impediments suggest that progress in the direction of a 'liveable' 24-hour city is likely, at best, to be slow and incremental in the British situation.