New database aims for post-pandemic recovery of ‘main street’ retail and services

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global communities on many fronts, including changes to the retail and services of “main streets”, prompting an economic downturn and magnifying pre-existing weaknesses and inequalities.

To help plan key strategies in economic recovery and “bring back” city main streets, Andy Yan, director of The City Program at SFU, has helped to create the Main Street Data Primer: A Resource for Policymakers, Main Street Stakeholders and Urban Researchers.

The resource is designed to help municipalities and business improvement areas, along with analysts, advocates, advisors and researchers, to navigate through “oceans of data sources” to inform urban and main street recovery planning.

While still in the midst of a pandemic, recovery is also on the horizon, as the B.C. government is set to announce its economic recovery plans for the province. Yan says the new, nationally coordinated research and advocacy campaign is about finding the best solutions to ensure main streets recover from COVID-19 and emerge from the crisis more resilient than ever.

“The idea behind this primer is to highlight the importance of how good decisions begin with good data,” says Yan, whose collaborators include experts from across the country, led by the Canadian Urban Institute in Toronto.

The resource draws on SFU’s extensive expertise in urban studies and geography, as well as its big data initiative, KEY, and connections with both community and government levels.

Yan can elaborate on how communities can benefit from strategic planning based on good data. His specializations include urban regeneration, applied demographics, and neighborhood development.

Prior to becoming director of The City Program, Yan worked extensively in the non-profit and private urban planning sectors in Vancouver and several U.S. cities.