CAN SUBURBIA DEVELOP REAL URBAN CENTERS?
Neal Peirce A suburb that builds a high-quality town center, with a full mix of urban services, should find that its cash register starts ringing–and keeps on ringing–long after stand-alone shopping malls become obsolete and turn unprofitable. As sensible as the idea seems, no one ever proved it until Charles Lockwood, a California-based author of highly regarded books on cities and architecture, produced his latest research, due to be published by the Urban Land Institute this month. Lockwood looked at a nationwide cross-section of truly mixed-use town centers–new Main Streets, town squares or transit villages that offer a full range of services, ranging from retail and housing to offices, entertainment, hotels, medical offices, libraries, even post offices. To make his list, he insisted all the services be integrated into friendly pedestrian-oriented environments. Among the town centers on Lockwood’s list were Reston Town Center outside of Washington; Miami Lakes Town Center 18 mi
