All right, here's a question,
can you tell which one of these town centers has
270 years of history and which one only has 10.
These new mixed use walkable town centers have been
popping up everywhere in the last 30 years.
We all know them when we see them,
they go by many names,
lifestyle centers, suburban town centers, insta cities,
but they're all essentially just compact plots of land built in the suburbs
and packed with restaurants, retail, entertainment and residents
usually found on the outskirts of our major cities.
These hubs are undeniably mimics of yesteryear's original town centers,
but they also may be America's new format for a shopping mall.
Some may see this new urbanist movement as the perfect cure to suburban loneliness.
Others may see a repackaged outdoor mall.
Is it
both, There's a lot going on here.
So let's begin with a case study examining historical
town centers and the new ones that copy them.
Then we can move on to how and why.
This may well be the new american shopping mall experience.
Let's take a look at the D. M. V.
That's the district Maryland and Virginia,
which is filled to the brim with both real and fake town centers.
All give examples of two of the area's actual town centers
as well as to imposter town centers that have tried.
Many may argue successfully to mimic them.
The D. M. V. S.
Historical centers that's George town in the district and old
town alexandria in Virginia actually have a lot in common
established within a few years of each other.
Georgetown and old town, like many town centers were centered around a main street
m street and King Street, respectively.
Both areas are just over one square mile
in size and have just under 10,000 residents.
They're both on the Potomac River waterfront and they both maintain
their 18th century and 19th century buildings and brick sidewalks,
but most importantly, they're both supremely walkable.
All of these elements create what many feel is a picturesque living situation.
A neighborhood where everything essential you need is
just a short walk away from your residence.
So it makes sense that urban planners and developers would look to recreate this,
introducing the mosaic district and Reston town center.
Built within the last 30 years,
these pre planned communities were both once plots
of land used for farming and cattle.
Now, after prosperous suburbs took over the bordering area,
developers felt the land could be better used for its clientele.
Reston town center was one of the pioneers
of this evolution toward a mixed use town center
that combines office retail and either residential above stores
or residential immediately in the vicinity or both.
The office workers have a place to stick around
for dinner. So there's synergy there
synergy that you don't find in in single use
and as a multipurpose destination to shop and spend our leisure time.
These centers intentionally or not are America's new blueprint
for a shopping mall when you're in a mall,
you are consciously in a mall right?
Like there's no sort of like convincing yourself that you're at some other place.
But I think within these town centers that
have been around for the past couple decades,
you can kind of forget that you are like in what is essentially like a commercial hub,
you're walking around and there's like a really nice water feature
or some beautiful trees And like it can kind of feel
like you're just having like more of like a day outside
where you happen to go into a couple of shops.
The department stores have been swapped
with smaller specialty stores and the surrounding
parking lots are now hidden in a more open streets minded design.
Architecturally,
the enormous concrete buildings of malls are
now in smaller buildings of many colors
and for overall size.
The average 800,000 square foot regional mall is
now a 320,000 square foot lifestyle center.
So we've established what they're imitating and
we've established what they've become for americans,
but why do they exist?
Architect David Kitchens said that lifestyle centers ultimately tap
into americans emotional desire to rebuild their community.
In theory,
the centers walk ability and sense of community can provide shoppers
and residents with an urban feel and a place to socialize.
However,
users are still provided with the comfort of the suburbs at
the same time when uses are within a decent walking distance.
A lot of synergy happens.
It's sort of like, you know,
the in between like the picket fence and like the tiny city studio, you know,
it's the sweet spot.
However, critics would be quick to point out the inherent loss of soul
and character in the fake town centers.
Gone are the sculptures, town halls, tattoo shops and dive bars.
But the truth of the matter is that human connection can
be more difficult to make in the sometimes isolating suburbs.
Some people are like, ok,
making that trade off and they really just wanted to cherry pick some of the
aspects of city living and take them out to the suburbs for those people like,
yeah, the town center is a great sort of way to do the suburbs light.
I also think that they're not being marketed to the same types of people.
If you're a diehard city person,
you're probably not going to move 45 minutes outside of the city to do, you know,
a town center in a suburb.
So, so it really isn't, doesn't matter if you dislike it.
Anyway, places don't happen overnight.
You can't create authentic places in one fell swoop,
Buildings change neighborhoods change places change and
these folks that are building brand new places
will over time,
see those places develop the kind of character that
may not be there on the day it opens