I have been reading a lot lately about the future of the suburbs. Our family lives in the suburbs, albeit in the first ring, only a mile or so from the city line. We are a mile and a half from the subway and could ride bikes downtown if necessary. Not all of the suburbs are so lucky.
Most of the suburbs here are 10 or more miles from downtown and many of these large suburbs here are full of empty big box stores, and large vacant parcels of commercial real estate. Western New York has a rich history in failed shopping malls too – The Seneca Mall, The Thruway Mall, McKinley Mall (soon), the list is long.
This great video shows how current suburban landscapes are unsustainable, ugly, and doomed to fail. It also shows a terrific plan for reuse of the land, complete with rebuilt, natural village and city centers.
This was perhaps one of the most amazing insights I have ever heard coming from an architectural perspective…very impressive