Digital technologies, new business models, demographic and cultural changes, and now the COVID pandemic are shaking up the traditional model of brick-and-mortar retail. All these developments have a profound impact on our cities and urban life. The next chapter in our social development is being determined and formed in the city centers and their shopping areas. How will cities deal with the imminent desolation of their centers? What is driving people into or out of downtown areas? What answers can architecture come up with in response? In this context, caspar.esearch – the research department of the caspar. architecture studio – has produced a critical study entitled Retail in Transition – Verkaufswelten im Umbruch aimed at gaining a better understanding of rapid changes taking place, particularly in German retail.

Retail in Transition was originally published in English in the fall of 2019. The book offers the first detailed analysis of the fundamental shift in the retail sector and its impact on cities from the caspar. architecture studio. The revised German edition published in spring 2021 offers a more in-depth examination of the topic that also takes new developments into account – particularly the COVID pandemic, which is critically shaping and widening the scope of the issue.