Urban morphology, deprivation, and the spatial logic of retail: Evidence from London

Retail provision is not only a market outcome but also a product of the architectural and morphological structure of the city. This study investigates how building density, building compactness, street-network density, and land-use mix are associated with retail density across neighborhoods with different deprivation levels in Greater London. Using 39,716 retail points of interest and 4994 Lower Layer Super Output Areas, the analysis combines spatial clustering with deprivation-stratified ordinary least squares, random forest, and geographically weighted regression to identify citywide averages, nonlinear responses, and local spatial variation. The results show that weak retail provision in London is scale-dependent. At the 250 m diagnostic scale, it is primarily expressed as fragmented local gaps embedded within stronger retail fields rather than broad contiguous deserts; at coarser scales, broader Low–Low clusters become more visible. Building density is the most robust predictor across all deprivation groups, while street-network density becomes more influential in affluent neighborhoods and land-use mix matters more in deprived contexts. Substantial local heterogeneity persists even after socio-economic stratification. By reframing retail density as an urban morphological outcome associated with the interaction between built form and socio-economic context, this study contributes to architectural research on urban science, spatial equity, and context-sensitive planning. The findings support morphology-led and deprivation-sensitive strategies for retail planning.