Comments on: Accelerated Depreciation = Accelerated Suburbia http://pedshed.net/?p=106 Walkable urban design and sustainable places Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:26:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Laurence Aurbach http://pedshed.net/?p=106&cpage=1#comment-1182 Laurence Aurbach Fri, 11 May 2007 22:26:07 +0000 http://pedshed.net/?p=106#comment-1182 The big box centers are another animal altogether. They are known in the industry as "power centers" and they are driving enclosed malls to extinction. Another competitor is the walkable town center type development. Those may be new, or they may be revitalized older centers. Southern California is designed for cars generally, notwithstanding the fact that California ranks better than most U.S. states in terms of transit use, VMT and gasoline use per person. And yet there is a surprising amount of planning going on to get walkable centers built. The downtown redevelopments of San Diego and Pasadena are the most ambitious examples at present, but I think SoCal will be seeing some even better walkable places built in the not too distant future. The big box centers are another animal altogether. They are known in the industry as “power centers” and they are driving enclosed malls to extinction.

Another competitor is the walkable town center type development. Those may be new, or they may be revitalized older centers.

Southern California is designed for cars generally, notwithstanding the fact that California ranks better than most U.S. states in terms of transit use, VMT and gasoline use per person. And yet there is a surprising amount of planning going on to get walkable centers built. The downtown redevelopments of San Diego and Pasadena are the most ambitious examples at present, but I think SoCal will be seeing some even better walkable places built in the not too distant future.

]]> By: arcadia http://pedshed.net/?p=106&cpage=1#comment-1180 arcadia Fri, 11 May 2007 21:39:45 +0000 http://pedshed.net/?p=106#comment-1180 Very interesting article -- thanks for posting and thanks for a great blog. One other factor influencing mall construction may be weather -- interesting that the first enclosed shopping center was in freezing cold Minneapolis. Also, big box malls with huge parking lots allow shoppers to drive from one store to another in rain or cold. But what is Southern California's excuse? 75 degrees and sunny -- perfect pedestrian weather -- yet all of the shopping centers here are built for cars. Very interesting article — thanks for posting and thanks for a great blog.

One other factor influencing mall construction may be weather — interesting that the first enclosed shopping center was in freezing cold Minneapolis. Also, big box malls with huge parking lots allow shoppers to drive from one store to another in rain or cold.

But what is Southern California’s excuse? 75 degrees and sunny — perfect pedestrian weather — yet all of the shopping centers here are built for cars.

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