New user groups entering the high street - A location intelligence case study focusing on the social transformation in major German cities

The lockdowns imposed by COVID-19 put inner cities and high streets to a test. In the meantime, visitor frequencies have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Nevertheless, retailers' sales have not recovered to the same extent. The aim of the paper is to clarify whether a so-called “social transformation” of the inner city is taking place and whether or not it is part of the reason. For this purpose, based on mass-mobile-data in a comparative GIS-multi-layer-approach (mix of methods), different analyses were conducted in the downtown area of major German cities (i.e. Berlin, Hamburg, Köln, Frankfurt, and Leipzig) in the years 2019 (Pre-COVID) and 2022 ("Past"-pandemic). The results show: visitor frequencies have positively regenerated, the temporal use of high streets has changed slightly, the catchment area has changed massively, and accordingly the user groups changed seriously. The social transformation of the inner city is thus in full motion, affecting retail business models and thus the business models of asset managers with real estate in inner cities. Consequently, the results call for a stronger focus on the new user groups and their demands on the inner city. The results are also relevant for policymakers and urban planners, as they make hitherto unmeasurable changes transparent.