CONDITIONS FOR FUNCTIONING OF COMMERCIAL STREETS IN WARSAW

The following article focuses on the issue of various conditions that affect the functioning of commercial streets. The goal is to present the issue in the aspect of increasing competition from modern shopping malls, development of commerce on the internet and the ongoing process of change in consumer habits. Alongside general trends related to the transformation of downtown areas in recent decades, the processes mentioned were further supported by examples observed in London and Warsaw. The research methods adopted by the author comprise source literature research, including reports on the condition of commercial streets in cities worldwide, especially reports dating back to the last two years, that is 2018/2019, when the transformation processes of downtown areas, as well as the concepts regarding compact city began to emerge again. While observing the described phenomena, the author’s idea of heuristic method in the places of transformation was also applied. In the conclusion to the following paper, an attempt was made to indicate the directions for corrective actions, thereby isolating such transformations of the city downtown areas that will allow to preserve the proper functioning of commercial streets in a natural way.