Ellen Dunham-Jones, AIA

Professor, MSUD Coordinator, Georgia Institute of Technology Images are for academic purposes only and may not have copyright approval

for 21st

Century Challenges

High rise housing above an expanded, hybrid mall

Oakridge Centre, Vancouver: Ivanhoe Cambridge, Henriquez Partners Architects

unintended consequences :

traffic and auto-dependence suburbia overburdens arterials and underuses local streets, in a vicious spiral

public health & aging suburban living raises risk of obesity, suicide, and death by automobile crashes

climate change & sustainability suburbanites’ have higher carbon footprints than urbanites

living compactly reduces per capita water and energy use

affordability low density costs municipalities more to serve with less revenue per acre

“drive ‘til you qualify” savings are wiped out by transportation costs

poverty and social capital since 2005 more Americans in poverty live in suburbs than cities

Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia – March, 2015

“60% of demand for housing will be

in the “urbanizing suburbs” for at

least a generation.“

C. Leinberger, Builder, March, 2015

Washington DC – 2012:

• 43 Walk Ups, 50% in the suburbs

• 75% price premium for office rents

71% price premium for multi-family

residential rents/sales

Atlanta, GA – 2013:

• 2008-2012: 60% of region’s

development took place in Atlanta’s

27 Walk UPS.

• 112% avg rent premium

Dallas, TX – 2014:

• 9 Walk Ups. DART TODs?

• Only 7% of Walk UPs are in the

suburbs. Good opportunities for

urbanization

Boston, MA - 2015:

57 Walk Ups:

• 12X the tax revenue of Edge Cities

• 6X the tax revenue of drivable

suburbs

strategy:

Walk UPs DC: Chris Leinberger, Mariela Alfonso

Atlanta: Chris Leinberger, Mason Austin

Dallas: Chris Leinberger, Patrick Lynch

Walkability + Multi-modal systems

Build on the parking lots

Transit-Oriented Development

Road diets

Street Networks

Parking Districts

Car Sharing & Ride Sharing

Driverless cars?

retrofitting challenge:

Auto Dependence

1985 2005 2025

Source: Dunham-Jones, Williamson 2009

from strip center to New England village by building on the parking lots

Mashpee Commons, Cape Cod, MA, 1988-present

Cornish Assoc. Ltd / Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co / Imai, Keller Moore

Anticipatory Retrofits: parking lots as future building sites w “streets” & utilities

Englewood CityCenter, City of Englewood, Miller Weingarten Realty, Trammell Crow

Residential, David Owen Tryba Architects, Calthorpe Associates Sources unverified

Liner Buildings: shallow, local retail/apt buildings that screen parking lots

Mashpee Commons, Mashpee, MA: Cornish Assoc. LTD, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co

From edge city sprawl to developer-led walkable urbanism

White Flint, N Bethesda MD: W.F. Ptrship, Montgomery Cty, Glatting Jackson, var designers

-new high-rise downtown over 20 years, $6-7 bil tax revenue, 10k residents – 25% affordable

From edge city sprawl to 430-acre BRT-extended TOD centered on boulevard

White Flint, N Bethesda MD: W.F. Ptrship, Montgomery Cty, Glatting Jackson, var designers

-new high-rise downtown over 20 years, $6-7 bil tax revenue, 10k residents – 25% affordable

Tysons Corner, VA • 1700 acres, larger than the central business districts of Miami, St. Louis, and San Diego

• 115,000 jobs and 43 million square feet of commercial space

• 8th largest shopping center in U.S. with 6 million square feet of retail space

From Edge City to 4 mixed-use, high-rise TODs along a 4-mile corridor

Tysons Corner VA: PB’s PlaceMaking

-insertion of transit lines in arterial r.o.w., 95% of growth will be w/in 3-min walk of transit

-doubling of office space by 2030, to 84 mil sf in LEED silver bldgs over 1,700 acres

-approximate quadrupling of residential population, 20% affordable units

-F.A.R. bonuses for affordable housing, LEED gold/platinum

-160 acres of parks, restoration of 2 streams in green network

-pursuing minimum 20-acre parcel consolidation near stations to allow for street grids

Instant Urbanism in Big Chunks

Tysons Corner, VA

Developers are given unlimited density on large parcels near stations in exchange for

building street grids. Jury’s still out, but so far, most of the big chunks are more

internalized “campuses” than “street-oriented” urbanism. Similar issues with Toronto’s

Tower Renewal and new high-density clusters at suburban transit stations?

First steps in retrofitting a 1970’s edge city: liner retail and streetscaping

Crystal City, Arlington County, VA: Torti-Gallas, Vornado Development, WDG Architects

First steps in retrofitting a 1970’s edge city: liner retail and streetscaping

Crystal City, Arlington County, VA: Torti-Gallas, Vornado Development, WDG Architects

Photoz; G. Komar

From 5-lane arterial to 2-lane Main Street with multi-use parking Ramblas & solar

Lancaster, CA (pop 157k): CT/KDF Comm’y Devel. Partners, Moule & Polyzoides, Peter Swift Since revitalization started in 2009: $106mil in New Markets Tax Credits for redevelopment for local

entrepreneurs; 50 new businesses; 10% increase in downtown property values; 50% cut in traffic collisions

Infill micro-retail raises WalkScore and neighborhood property values

Idea Hatchery; Shoppes on Faatherland, East Nashville, TN: Brett & Meg McFadyen

From 5-lane arterials to 4-lanes w/ bike paths by replacing signaled

intersections with roundabouts

Carmel, Indiana

Roundabouts cost less than traffic signals, increase safety and traffic flow and eliminate left-

turn lane– leaving room for multiuse bike paths while reducing idling and emissions.

Since installing 65 of 80 planned roundabouts injuries have fallen 80% , traffic commutes

have shortened and carbon emissions are down from less idling.

Smartphone apps

• Minutecast (weather for bikers)

• Where’s My Bus?

• Where’s a parking space?

Carsharing (Zipcar, Car2Go, etc)

• 50% of users reduce car

ownership

Ridesharing (Uber, Lyft, etc.)

• The last mile for transit OR the

new model for transit (Helsinki)

• Deliveries, esp for the elderly

Autonomous Vehicles

• Enabling further sprawl or

incentivizing intensification?

• PricewaterhouseCoopers

predicts U.S. fleet will contract

from 245 to 2.4 million by 2030

• Uber expects a driverless fleet

by 2030 that will be so

inexpensive it will make car

ownership (and transit?)

obsolete.

Could mean a LOT more under-

performing asphalt to retrofit

retrofitting challenge:

“smart suburbs”

technology to

reduce auto

dependence/owne

rship?

Physical activity and walkability

Safer streets

Reduce exposure to toxic

emissions

Increase access to health care and

healthy food

Retrofit for an aging population

Reduce stress – especially relative

to lack of affordability

retrofitting challenge:

Public Health

Citizen lawsuit leads to “healthy” TOD set back from highway emissions

Assembly Row, Somerville, MA: Mystic View Task Force, Federal Realty, Elkus-Manfredi

Lawsuit pressed for $30M in tax revenue, 30K jobs, and 30 acres open space. $50K health study.

Hospital, Public Housing Authority and a Farm create a Health District

Vita Health & Wellness District, Stanford CT: Stamford Hospital, Charter Oak Comm’s,

Fairgate Farm, Gamble Assoc’s, Madden Planning, Reisen Design Assoc’s.

From “Big Lots” to LEED gold recreation center and stormwater amenity

Collinwood Recreation Center, Cleveland, OH: City of Cleveland, Paul Volpe Architects

from dead mall to mixed-use NORC with sr housing, grocery, hotel: zero

stormwater runoff and geothermal

Wayzata Bay Center, Wayzata, MN: City of Wayzata, Presbyterian Homes, LHB, DIIAP, InSite

The wetland site was drained for construction of the Bay Center mall in the sixties. In addition to

capturing all stormwater on site under pile-supported streets, the project paid $129k for wetland

credits to the Wayzata Wetland Bank to further protect the lake.

Attract and retain 25-34 yr olds

Maker space, & innovation

districts

Update outtadate office parks and

sleepy suburbs with mixed uses

and housing

Reinhabit, redevelop, or regreen

the white elephants

retrofitting challenge:

Jobs

From strip mall to Main Street with high-end shop, live, stay and now, office

Santana Row, San Jose, CA: Federal Realty Trust, Street Works, SB Archts, BAR Archts 10 yrs: grown from 15.6 to 42 acres, 35 to 100 merchants, 622 res’l units (w/ 20% premium) and has contributed

more than $40 mil in prpperty tax and $24mil in sales tax in 2011.

• Phase 1: big box

stores on the arterial

• Main St

perpendicular to the

arterial, tapering to

more pedestrian

scale

• Later phases: office,

more residential on

side and rear parking

lots

From strip mall to Main Street with high-end shop, live, stay and now, office

Santana Row, San Jose, CA: Federal Realty Trust, Street Works, SB Archts, BAR Archts Latest phase: dense urban packed with walkable amenities to attract Millennials. Limited transit.

From IBM research & manufacturing site to Austin’s upscale Second Downtown

Domain, Austin, TX : Endeavor Realty, Simon Retail, Gensler, various firms

Can’t compete w downtown for “cool” but competes on floorplate, price, and parking + transit

2003 2013 2035

transit triggers infill of an office park

University Town Center, Hyattsville, MD Prince George’s Metro Center, Inc.; Parker Rodriguez, RTKL Associates, WDG Architecture

1980 2009 2011

from taxi distributor to small mixed-use TOD w daycare and container pool

TAXI, Riverfront North, Denver, CO: Zeppelin Development

Civic Engagement

Share: Uber, Lyft, Airbnb

Tactical urbanism

Play

Gathering Spaces

“Missing middle” housing types

Welcome diversity

retrofitting challenge:

Social Capital

From Wal-Mart to Public Library McAllen Public Library, McAllen TX; Boultinghouse Simpson Gates Architects, Meyer Scherer Rockcastle Architects

Lara Swimmer

Updating the “L” strip mall as a “third place” with portals to the neighborhood

Lake Grove Shopping Center, Lake Oswego, OR: Eric Shoemaker Beam Development

From “back” to a new front to the neighborhood

From 3-acre truck loading facility to urban park w/ 600 ton BTU geothermal source

Guthrie Green Urban Park, Tulsa, OK: OSU, SWA, Kinslow, Keith & Todd Architects

The $8M conversion of the 3-acre site in an emerging arts district received a $2.5M ARRA grant to

provide gardens, stage, pavilion and 120 wells to serve 120k of nearby non-profit users.

guthrie_green_tulsa

_02

Gentrification in the name of regreening?

Dunwoody Glen, Dunwoody GA

From dead mall to hispanic shopping & cultural center

La Gran Plaza, Fort Worth, TX: The Legaspi Co.

Bought in 2004 as a dead mall. Now 90% occupied. Largest Hispanic-Oriented mall in the U.S.

Retail, plus it’s own Mariachi band, Mariachi Academy for kids, Plaza Las Americas Food Court,

hispanic health clinic, Mercado, Cinema Latino, Nightclub and celebratory event schedule.

Equitable access: to transit, jobs,

parks, schools, and housing

Inclusionary zoning

Replacement units

Reinhabitation

The city as master developer

retrofitting challenge:

Equity and

Affordability

Tower Renewal: retrofitting ‘60’s “garden city” towers for equity, sustainability

“Emerald City,” Parkway Forest, Toronto, Ont: EL-AD Canada, WZMH Architects Verdiroc

Devel Corp built a building with 232 affordable units in the complex

“Luxury starts in the lobby…” Emerald City website

Connecting affordable housing to affordable transportation w/ park-n-ride retrofit

Wyandanch Rising, Babylon NY: Sustainable L.I., Suffolk County, Albanese Org, Jeff Speck,

Torti Gallas, others

Long Island’s most economically

distressed community. Off-Street

parking for train killed the downtown.

• County Mgr champion org’d

charrette, land acquisition, RFQ

county & federal grants for sewer

& parking garage.

• Form Based Code Award

• Main St becoming boulevard

through sewer installation

Affordable, dense infill gracefully transitions the commercial-residential seam

Cottages on Greene Street, East Greenwich, RI: 620 Main St Associates, Union Architects

Former auto-repair lot First proposal for affordable housing

Inward views to stormwater-catching court 15-units/acre maintains local scale at street

Water Quality:

• Daylight culverted creeks

• Reconstruct wetlands

• Clean and control runoff

Too little water:

• Capture for reuse

• Conserve and recycle

Too much water:

• Regreen flood plains

• Blue/Green infrastructure/LID

• Pervious surface

• Hard and soft barriers

• Buildings and infrastructure

that can take a bath

• Planned retreat

retrofitting challenge:

Water

Upgrading 1940-s-50’s environmental, social, and transportation systems

Parkmerced, a 3,221-unit rental apt community, San Francisco, CA: SOM

5,665 net new residences with net zero increase in greenhouse gases, zero landfill

waste, 100% aquifer recharge, local food, 56% reduction in reliance on “the grid” BUT

concerns about evictions

supply

District Energy Systems

• Waste heat capture

• CHP

• district heating/cooling

Renewable Energy

• solar & solar-ready

• Geothermal

• biomass

• wind

Smart Grids/Microgrids

• Peak Load Shaving

• vehicle-to-grid sharing

Demand

• energy retrofits of existing

buildings

• smart meters

• Compact & passive design

retrofitting challenge:

Energy

Landfill Diversion

• Pre-fab and modular

construction

• Recycling of demolition and

construction waste

• On-site composting & recycling

District-scale systems w/

compact, integrated infrastructure

• Transportation, energy, water,

emergency services

• Waste-to-energy

Collaborative

Consumption/Shared Economy

• shared parking, Airbnb

• bikeshare

• Uber, Lyft, Car2Go, etc

• Community gardens, urban ag

retrofitting challenge:

Waste

Auto-dependence

Affordability

Public Health

Social Capital

Jobs

Water

Energy

Waste

retrofitting challenge:

Layered Solutions,

Regional & Agency

Cooperation, New

Metrics of Success

A healthy, sustainable region of

strong, transit-oriented nodes

AND fine-grained, human scale

places with local businesses?

Transit PLUS great walkability?

Density PLUS urbanism?

retrofitting challenge:

Greater Toronto’s

suburban retrofits

tomorrow?