Think mixed use. Think legacy.

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Tadd Miller

mixed-use-vinyl-300x260As developers, every project we build leaves a legacy, good or bad. Since we think of transforming something somewhere nearly every waking hour, we need to stop sometimes to think about the mark we are leaving on the landscape. This weekend I had to venture out of the city and found myself driving down a “vinyl village highway” typical of suburban and exurban America. You know it when you see it – the sprawling “cookie cutter” subdivisions carved up into plots giving each resident its portion of the American Dream; albeit in much smaller and more inferior versions than the estates and manors after which they are modeled. I couldn’t help but think of the legacy of these communities compared with the mixed use and multi-family projects in our portfolio or in countless others of our peers.

Unfortunately, some developers and communities in America have traded the long-term costs associated with low dense, single use subdivisions for the short-term benefits. It’s not reasonable, nor is it fair to those that will come behind us. By extending expensive infrastructure like sewers and roads, these communities have subsidized a lifestyle that is not sustainable and hinders transportation and commerce. More clearly: our own tax dollars were spent providing places for people to live in isolation. These developments are designed to create the illusion of security and privacy, but then they also restrict the social interaction that is so critical to the health of cities. As I continued my drive, I wondered what the developers, planners, and even the residents think of what they have created. I don’t have a firsthand experience of that lifestyle, but I do know its not the future. What is its legacy and can it be influenced before it’s too late?

This entry was posted in Housing, Our Philosophy and tagged mixed use, suburban redevelopment

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