For The Parade, safety is often viewed through a familial lens. This is particularly evident at night on weekends when parents drop off their teenage children for an evening without adult supervision. Parents’ confidence in their children being in a safe space is shaped by their own familiarity and personal experiences with the precinct, as well as the knowledge that the most popular establishments patronised by young people are in a concentrated area, thereby creating a‘ safety in numbers’ effect.
FIGURE 2. SCHOOLS WITHIN 1 KM OF THE PARADE
Speck( 2020) reminds us that the physical characteristics of streets also influence safety, pointing to pedestrian crossings and keeping“ vehicles at reasonable speeds” as important factors to improving conditions for walkers. This sentiment aligns with the views of Kvashuk et al.( 2023) who argue streets can be made safer if they are planned with children in mind. In 2021, the introduction of a so-called“ scramble crossing” at the intersection of The Parade and George Street, the precinct’ s busiest intersection, allowing people to cross the street in any direction while all vehicular movement has stopped, was a“ game-changer” for the safety of young people. This innovation, combined with the introduction of a 40 km / h speed limit in local streets throughout Norwood in 2022, and a submission by the Council to the South Australian Government to extend the same limit to The Parade, has reinforced the primacy of people over cars in the precinct.
A POOL OF SCHOOLS The relationship between safety and economic benefit on The Parade is reinforced by the number of students either living or learning near the precinct. The 2021 ABS Census showed 7,530 people aged 0-19 years living in NPSP, comprising 19.7 percent of its population. This figure is noticeably lower than that of adjoining Councils: Walkerville( 21 %), Campbelltown( 21.5 %) and Burnside( 23.7 %). However, this number increases significantly when combined with the 9,000 students attending the ten primary and secondary schools located within 1 km of the precinct( Figure 2). While other main streets such as Jetty Road( Glenelg), Prospect Road( Prospect), and Unley Road( Unley) also have schools located nearby, none have a number comparable to The Parade. Indeed, at no other location in South Australia, and perhaps even Australia, is there a similar sized cluster of schools in such proximity to a main street.
The economic impact generated by this critical mass of young people cannot be overstated. This is where Main Street meets Sesame Street. After school or following Saturday morning sport, hundreds of students in uniform come to The Parade with a parent or by themselves to meet friends, buy food, drinks, books, clothes, jewellery, sports gear, visit hair and beauty establishments, and attend medical appointments. For secondary school students in particular, The Parade is the place to be and to be seen. Rather than being confined to designated youth zones, teenagers have unfettered access to the street and the full offering of hospitality, retail, services and entertainment businesses, allowing them to interact with different age cohorts. Youth culture is invited to flourish in the precinct with young people being given permission to be their authentic selves without the fear of having to conform to adult values, expectations or perceptions of how they should behave in public places( Valentine, 1996). This scenario aligns with the findings of Malone( 2022), who argues that rather than being excluded from a precinct or seen as“ intruders,” young people and youth culture are important to its cultural vitality, adding that“ for many young people, the street is the stage for performance.”
The economic activity generated by students and their families continues during school holidays. Spendmapp data in Norwood’ s Dining sector during the July and October school holiday periods in 2023 and 2024 reveals the impact of youth expenditure:
• Expenditure on Dining in October was $ 276k higher than in July 2024
• Expenditure on Dining in July 2024 was $ 498k higher than in July 2023
• Expenditure on Dining in October was $ 610k higher than in October 2023
SPENDING POWER AND BRAND AWARENESS Young locals and students living outside NPSP who visit The Parade are spending their own money either given to them as‘ pocket money’ or earned through part-time jobs. This provides Parade businesses with a deep pool of‘ learners and earners’ to target through advertising and marketing. In 2023, the ABS reported that half( 54.4 percent) of all Australian teens aged 15-19 years had part-time jobs( Schultz and Jaeger, 2023), compared to only 38 percent of their American counterparts( Carufel, 2024). Younger cohorts also have access to money. Multiple surveys conducted over the past decade reveal an increasing number of primary-school-age children receiving‘ pocket money’ on a regular basis, with many also given autonomy to make their own choices on how to spend it. This phenomenon has led Gareth Tomlin( 2021) to describe Australian children as a“ spending powerhouse of their own.” On The Parade, brand clothing stores such as Country Road, Seed, and Peter Alexander, which stock adult and children’ s ranges, give families the opportunity to shop together and children to exercise‘ kidfluence’ or‘ pester-power’ to determine purchases made by their parents.
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