• To build a center on a former mall

    A mixed-use center is the best way to maximize value from a vacant mall site, but it requires proactive city leadership, as seen in Huntsville.
    MidCity District in Huntsville, Alabama, is a 140-acre mixed-use development on the site of the former Madison Square Mall, built in 1984. As the name implies, it is centrally located to the sprawling Rocket City and its largest employment centers, about three miles west of downtown. The District...Read more

  • For the love of mimosas, see Mashpee Commons

    Cape Cod boasts many things, including the first conversion of a sterile strip mall to a village center. It’s a model for what to do with thousands of dead and dying malls.
    My first professional work out of college was on Cape Cod in the 1980s. I read National Geographic, and I loved the photos of village architecture and the picturesque harbors featured in their coverage of the region. Having grown up and studied in Pennsylvania, I had a romantic notion of New...Read more

  • Old versus New Urbanism, and what it means

    The Florida Gulf Coast offers a chance to compare the meanings of Old and New Urbanism, examine why the two are not as distinct, and how urbanism is evolving.
    A professor of real estate visited the Florida Panhandle and compared the New Urbanism on Route 30A (Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach) to the “old urbanism” of Panama City, about 30 miles to the east. J. David Chapman, chair of finance and professor of real estate at The University of Central...Read more

  • Community stands the test of time

    HomeTown in North Richland Hills was designed to introduce New Urbanism to the North Texas production-built market. It survived the housing crash and is nearly complete.
    HomeTown in North Richland Hills, is an infill, greyfield, and suburban retrofit development of about 330 acres in the Dallas suburbs, and is nearing completion after 25 years of construction—a remarkable achievement given its long struggles through the Great Recession. HomeTown is a traditional...Read more