This post was written for The Ground Floor by Trisha Riggs, the vice president of communications at the Urban Land Institute.
Rising gas prices and demographic shifts have created a "wake-up call" for the land use industry that demand for more compact walkable development is going to come sooner rather than later. So said the experts at ULI's recent Developing Master-Planned Communities conference. It seems clear from the panelists that the days of far-flung sprawl are coming to an end, as consumers grow weary of the cost of commuting; and as a rising number of echo boomers and empty-nester baby boomers seek convenience and proximity to work and recreation in their housing choices.
With about 90 percent of development in America still segregated and car-dependent, a lot has to change to fill this demand. But the developers who make the quickest switch from the old ways to the new will be the ones that survive in the years ahead, panelists said. "You can either keep fight the change or ride the wave to success," a panelist noted. He urged attendees to "think about their legacies," noting that a legacy is not the development of "disposable" shopping centers or condos. "If you do it right, the communities you build will never stop evolving, leading to more opportunities for you and others."
How to meet this demand? Opportunities exist with shopping mall sites, suburban strips, grayfields and brownfields, older commercial sites and "heartless" suburban communities. "The long-term market realities are changing, consumer behavior is changing. We are at a turning point in how communities are developed," observed one panelist.
It all sounds very promising -- change for the good of the built and natural environment. Bring it on!
