Retrofitting Suburbia

By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, February 24, 2009.

Abandoned store in Peterborough

Since the post World War II era, moving out to a suburban neighborhood with a big lawn and two-car garage has integrated into the American dream. Shopping malls and big box stores emerged to feed, fuel and accessorize the suburban lifestyle. Now, as the economy shrinks, many of those stores and stripmalls and their parking lots are abandoned, and communities are left to fill the empty space. What’s more, demographics projections in this country show less demand for large-lot single-family houses and increased need for higher density, multi-use community centers.

Planning expert Ellen Dunham-Jones joins us to talk about this shift. She’s co-author, with June Williamson, of Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. We also talk with Jay Minkarah, former community development planner in Merrimack, New Hampshire, about the town's experience bringing new business into a worn-out shopping plaza.

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(Photo courtesy reinvented via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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As a community economic development practitioner, we need to start thinking about sustainability in our planning of retail and other development. We went from a nation where there were 4 square feet of retail per capita in the seventies to areas in Southern New Hampshire that now afford over 50 SF/Per capita. Yes, some of this is about changes in the way we shop, but the question remains. Is turning our farmland into big boxes that go vacant as our preferences change smart growth? Retrofitting our downtowns, requiring new big boxes to install solar arrays, not allowing retailers to go to new locations and retain leases on existing site that will become future blighted areas should all be on the minds of local planning and zoning boards.

Thankfully there are economic development tools that support smart growth in New Hampshire and more communities are starting to embrace these.

Hope springs eternal!

glen

Submitted by Glen from Hopkinton on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 22:15.

Idea Smackdown: Round III

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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.