Retrofitting D.C.’s Suburbs for a New Era

In an opinion piece in Greater Greater Washington, Aditya Inamdar writes, “We can’t change the original design of suburban neighborhoods, but we can retrofit suburbs to better serve the people who live and work in them.”

For Inamdar, redeveloping office parks and shopping centers to serve new, more efficient uses calls for two key aspects: private development and public policy.

In situations where private redevelopment is simple and profitable, Inamdar writes, “the role of public agencies is more regulatory,” to “ensure that the proposals align with the jurisdiction’s goals, approved plans, policies, and standards.” Public agencies can support the success of retrofitting projects by aligning on clear goals, streamlining permitting and approval processes where possible, and keeping the community involved throughout the process.

In other cases, public agencies may take the lead on a project. “This is typically the case with older suburban activity centers or commercial corridors with fragmented ownership, where it’s simply too complicated for a private developer to make a move.” When agencies want to target an area for redevelopment, they can encourage developers to become partners by backing up their plan with investment in infrastructure that will support the project, actively recruiting developers, and engaging in substantial community outreach work to “understand community needs and preferences before plans go to planning commissions and city/county councils for adoption.”

Inamdar sees the retrofitting of suburban shopping centers, malls, and office parks in the Washington, D.C. region as “an opportunity to create desirable places out of underutilized properties, undeveloped pieces of land, parking lots, and aging commercial strips” and “bring the benefits of urban spaces out to suburbia.”