Change is constant. In King Street, a row of terraces, home of everyday Novocastrians, became shops. Retailing declines and maybe, homeowners will return again to the old terraces.
Commercial activity in the city has freedom to abide where it thinks fit. No particular entity is in control, I imagine.  To movers and shakers: go on! radicalise yourselves and find clever  arrangments that facilitate the use of our empty city buildings.
At the same time as a brand new shopping centre is squeezed onto a city site, empty disused premises, just one block distant, are left to rot. Can planning exert pressure on commerce who display immunity to the surroundings and ignore what we have here.
Wastefully, commerce just doesn't get it when it comes to recycling building stock and the overall amenity misses out on a golden opportunity. The high costs of adaption become part and parcel of developments.  The move to Honeysuckle left a few big casualities in the CBD and is bad exmaple.
Certain radical penalities might be applied to discourge the duplication of shops and offices.  Radical yet prudent limitation of suburban developments before consolidation of what we already have is the wildest dream and a red rag to a bull.  Image the outcry.
Good as it is, it takes more than opening up crafty shops in response to an impending influx during a festival.
We are not alone, cities everywhere grapple with urban renewal. Try more inventiveness along with pressure.