How do we Re-Center our Suburbs?

The last twenty to thirty years have left many of our suburbs as vast sprawling single-use residential subdivisions surrounded by vast sprawling single-use commercial strips with little to seam the two together. This pattern has been well-documented and is now the location of foreclosures and dark storefronts. Why? There are of course many reasons for this, some of which are complex (over-leveraging of debt instruments) and some are rather simple (oversupply of homes and retail not supported by actual population growth).

Regardless, it appears that the communities that have fared the best are those with a true civic heart and a viable center of the community. For most communities, this is the Main Street, their downtown. Just why is having a downtown so important? Very simply, it gives a community its heart and soul. It binds people together socially and creates a visual characteristic that distinguishes one address from the other.

Our practice has allowed us to work with a number of these suburban communities seeking to physically define their geography with the creation of a Main Street. This work has ranged from Germantown, TN where we assisted this suburban Memphis community of 37,000 in redefining 800 acres of largely single-story strip shopping centers into a multi-story, mixed-use environments to Trinity, NC where we recently assisted them in implementing a vision of a true village center for this nearly 200 year old settlement.

In Germantown, they realized that the annexation-based greenfield growth that fueled their tax revenues through the 70's and 80's was slowing quickly. As a result, they began to refocus their economic development efforts on the redevelopment of previously under-performing sites. The resultant plan will be guided over the next 40 years by a form-based code and a public-private partnership program.

The economic analysis of the potential redevelopment told the tale. It is estimated that the current tax proceeds for the area is approximately $1,760,000. However, with mixed-use infill and redevelopment as contemplated by the plan, the City can conservatively expect tax proceeds in 2007 dollars more than double this value. So, in fostering an environment where mixed-use was permitted and encouraged (it was previously forbidden) Germantown now has the opportunity to create a Main Street where previously there was none and yield a substantial return on investment. Sounds like a win-win. For more information go to http://www.germantown-tn.gov/SmartGrowth.html

In Trinity, NC they face a different challenge. Trinity was first established as a community in the 19th century when Trinity College occupied a plot of land at the center of this small agricultural community in the Greensboro-High Point region. Unfortunately, Trinity College was moved before the turn of the 20th century to Durham and became Duke University. Trinity was on the precipice of forming a downtown around the college and the rail line just to the north to serve this growing area but found itself instead returning to its agricultural roots with little occurring until the last ten years. The community was re-incorporated in 1997 and moved quickly to plan their growth. Having adopted their first land use plan and planned significant investments in a community-wide public sewer system, the town leader's sought ways on how to best manage these key investments.

In May, 2009, the community organized a public design charrette and developed a coherent vision for their historic core. Most importantly, they planned a vision of a village center anchored by a village green on which they can program community-wide events and activities. Located at the doorstep of the true community activity center, the high school, this village green is envisioned to draw from the historic remnants of Trinity College (located adjacent to this site) while establishing a heart and soul for this "placeless" community. In addition, the plan identified the opportunity of redeveloping five key parcels directly to the north to create a small mixed-use neighborhood center that will finally give Trinity the Main Street they have longed for. For more information go to trinity-nc.blogspot.com.

How will the next 50 years be different?

Interesting question. Perhaps the bigger question is why the next 50 years must be different. To do so we must have an understanding of the failure of our built (and natural) environment since the end of World War II. I don't need to rehash the well documented impacts that the explosion of suburbia has had on the global economy. To find the best resource on that, check out Suburban Nation, by Andres Duany, Lizz Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. More importantly, just open the paper.

The most tenuous parts of our economy were based on the suburbs. The auto-industry failed because it over-leveraged itself into gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles sold to people with average commuted in excess of 20 miles each way. Foreclosures are highest in the suburbs because families "drove until they qualified" for a large house or builders/developers constructed subdivisions for whole populations that never arrived (I'll need to cover that more in the myth of popular demographics). Banks and large financial institutions failed because they either bundled highly leveraged mortgages for those people who couldn't afford the home in the first place (mortgage backed securities) and then insured their profitability as credit default swaps. And then someone tugged at the loose string of our economic sweater and it all unraveled.

Perhaps if there is one lesson that we have learned it's that the suburbs are predicated upon an often untenable dream - one that is mired in debt, future costs, monthly payments and IOUs. And I'm not just referring to the average household. And this debt is not always in the form or a financial instrument. Often times our built environment is built on premise that a future generation will pay for what we purchased. Drained wetlands, drought-starved rivers, lost farmlands, dependence on foreign oil (if we still use oil in 50 years) - these are the costs that future generations will be saddled with if we don't continue to change our fundamental approach to growth.

Smart growth, new urbanism, compact communities, sustainable cities - these are all buzzwords that boil down to the need to think strategically and systemically. Yes, growth is indeed good. And to borrow as phrase from Charlotte, NC Mayor Pat McCrory - "if you are not growing (as a city), you are dying." This site is therefore intended to explore the ways in which our communities can grow more sustainably - economically, environmentally, and socially - into the next 50 years. We'll find some lessons and best practices in the past and the present but mostly we'll be inventing a new wheel, a new way of growing our cities and towns. As a city planning practitioner, I'm excited about the possibilities. The moonshot of our generation will not be the compact, florescent light bulb. I believe it will be the compact, efficient community that's paid for by this generation and left to the next as a debt-free inheritance.