Sprawl Repair: Fixing the Mess We Made

A handful of good articles in the November issue of the American Planning Association (APA)'s Planning magazine. Here's one:

Edited excerpts from an article by Emily Talen, AICP
APA Planning Magazine
November 2010

In the 1950s and '60s, the "next big thing" was urban renewal. In the 1970s and '80s, it was environmentalism. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was smart growth. And today? Think of sprawl repair: retrofitting abandoned chain stores, dead malls, disconnected apartment complexes, and segregated housing pods.

In the short term, sprawl repair, or suburban retrofit, is driven by failing malls, widespread housing foreclosures, and the need to stimulate new forms of investment. But there is also something more principled at work: Americans' realization that it makes sense to reduce energy consumption, to reuse existing infrastructure rather than to build new, and to provide denser, more walkable housing options in response to demographic change.

Sprawl repair requires both big thinking and political moxy. Unlike simple technological fixes that we think of as "sustainable," it will take substantial behavioral change, the need for which is indisputable. That means:

• Accepting the loss of automotive dependence
  
• Making walking (and biking) the main mode of travel
  
• Being willing to live more compactly
  
• Tolerating far more social diversity and varied land uses.

We know that detached, single-family housing has a higher carbon footprint than apartment buildings and high rises, a fact thoroughly documented in David Owen's recent book, Green Metropolis. Compact neighborhoods, he makes clear, allow us to drive less, to lower our energy costs, and to strengthen social and economic connections. They have intrinsic environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Three steps to sprawl repair:

• Locate strategic, structural potential - areas near commercial intersections and potentially good connectivity e.g. shorter blocks, with substantial assets to build on, and where corners are occupied by buildings, NOT a parking lot
  
• Pockets of density and diversity - socially, economically, physically, e.g. land uses, housing types
• Begin implementation right away - stimulate investment by changing rules and codes, investing in public space, offering incentives for development.
  

The idea of sprawl repair has caught the attention of the national media. Time magazine in March gave "recycling the suburbs" number two ranking in its list of "10 Ideas That Are Changing the World Right Now." And newspapers around the country regularly report on efforts to revitalize failed malls and derelict industrial sites. Design magazines see retrofitting projects as a way to feature the work of architects. Dwell recently sponsored a suburban design competition called "Reburbia," devoted to "envisioning different scenarios for the future" (www.re-burbia.com). In part, this interest is spurred by investors seeking new development opportunities and by local governments looking for creative ways to revive the shopping districts that were once their major revenue generators.

Ultimately, true sprawl repair will require macro-level change — with new financial tools and new government policies. And those things are generally beyond the scope of planners' jobs. But there are specific things planners can do to motivate sprawl repair. One is to make sure that existing rules and regulations facilitate repair. For suburban planners that means stimulating investment in targeted locations by reforming codes, making improvements in public spaces, and encouraging private investment.

Until recently, planners have mostly focused on restricting sprawl, not on repairing it — two distinctly different approaches. Restriction involves putting the brakes on development, sometimes in the form of urban growth boundaries and wetland protection programs. Yet these are not always the best tools for rejuvenating our suburbs.

Repair, on the other hand, requires vision and a proactive approach. It encourages targeted planning and investment: tax breaks, for instance, and the creation of civic space, sidewalks, and street trees in locations where they might stimulate retrofitting. Allowing single-family suburbs to intensify by adding accessory units or small buildings to accommodate family-run businesses is another important strategy.