3 ms·
This is just redevelopment. What’s _really weird_ to me is new developments that are designed to look like walkable town centers, but are actually open-air sho
by subpixel 5y ago
This is just redevelopment.
What’s _really weird_ to me is new developments that are designed to look like walkable town centers, but are actually open-air shopping malls in the exurbs of cities with hollowed-out centers that were thriving and walkable a single generation ago.
These new, faux town centers come with two things the real ones didn’t: massive parking garages, and condos on the third floor with non-functional Juliet balconies that overlook the chain stores.
- loudmax 5y agoIf you're comparing "faux" town centers to century old walkable town centers, then they do seem lacking. But in most of North America, the alternative to "faux" town centers isn't original town centers. The alternative is miles of stroads flanked by strip malls, or islands of big box shopping malls surrounded by an ocean of parking lots. In this context, the open-air shopping mall as town center is a net positive. Especially when combined with apartment buildings or townhouses as is also happening in some new developments.