• Malls to mixed-use centers and other opportunities

    While hundreds of malls are declining, they are also being reused for all kinds of purposes—including walkable urban places in communities lacking in this kind of environment.
    This is one of a series of ongoing Public Square articles on the market, technological, and cultural transformation of the $5 trillion retail industry—and how it relates to a continued shift toward walkable, urban living. The retail industry is going through major upheaval. This situation does not...Read more

  • Converting a shopping mall to a downtown

    Downtown Westminster, Colorado, is designed as a ‘place’ that grows organically with affordable housing included.
    A new downtown is being built for Westminster, Colorado, a suburban city with no previous walkable downtown—on 105-acre former shopping mall site. Downtown Westminster will include 2,300 residential units with substantial affordable housing, and 1.7 million square feet of commercial uses—such as a...Read more

  • Eleven ways to retrofit suburbs

    Transforming suburban places is a growing and necessary trend across America. What are the tactics to make it happen?
    The transformation of specific underutilized places in conventional suburbs is gaining momentum for several reasons. Suburban municipalities with little or no walkability are losing younger generations who are enamored with walkable urban places. From a regional standpoint, a balance of supply and...Read more

  • Pattern retrofitting with immigrants

    This is Part 4 of a series on retrofitting urban patterns to create more resilient places where decentralized capital can flourish. This article, the last of the series, discusses how immigrants may play a role in getting us there.
    Note: See Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 of this series.​ This article series has used Cobb County, near Atlanta, Georgia, as a muse. Much has been written recently about Cobb County on the national stage and it’s a place I know well. But realistically, is Cobb County a good cultural candidatefor...Read more