This article tracks the remarkable role played by a commercial property developer, the Arndale Property Company, in the transformation of urban Britain across the second half of the twentieth century. This was an era of great change in cities, as urban environments were remodeled and urban centers had to adapt to deindustrialization and the rise of a consumer-driven and service-dominated economy. Arndale was at the forefront of these changes, installing dozens of shopping centers in British towns and cities from the 1950s to the 1990s. The company imported American-inspired commercial architectures, furnishing cities with new landscapes of consumption and mass leisure through which the affluent society was encountered and made concrete. Arndale was also a driving force in the growing financialization of urban property development that began in Britain as early as the 1950s and gathered pace as the century wore on. The company's history thus illuminates important shifts in economic activity and cultural life that had far-reaching impacts on British cities and society. It also highlights Arndale's role at the heart of the postwar urban renewal order, showing how far the company's success depended on its status as a favored partner to public planning authorities pursuing town center redevelopment. The centrality of such public-private developmental partnerships, often overlooked, particularly within adjacent urban disciplines, reveals much about the precise contours and political economy of the British postwar settlement.

本文追踪商业地产开发商 Arndale Property Company 在 20 世纪下半叶的英国城市转型中所发挥的非凡作用。这是一个城市发生巨大变化的时代，城市环境被改造，城市中心必须适应去工业化以及消费者驱动和服务主导型经济的兴起。Arndale 站在这些变化的最前沿，从 1950 年代到 1990 年代在英国城镇建立了数十个购物中心。该公司引进了美国风格的商业建筑，为城市提供了消费和大众休闲的新景观，通过这些景观与富裕社会相遇并变得具体。Arndale 也是城市房地产开发日益金融化的推动力，该开发早在 1950 年代就在英国开始，并随着世纪的推移而加快步伐。因此，该公司的历史阐明了对英国城市和社会产生深远影响的经济活动和文化生活的重要转变。它还强调了 Arndale 在战后城市更新秩序中的核心作用，表明该公司的成功在多大程度上取决于其作为公共规划当局寻求市中心重建的青睐合作伙伴的地位。这种公私发展伙伴关系的中心地位，经常被忽视，特别是在相邻的城市学科中，揭示了英国战后定居点的精确轮廓和政治经济。