As plans to develop a Wal-Mart and a shopping mall draw thousands of protesters in Austin, Texas, the public seems to be demanding a new kind of development.
"What these Austinites want and believe they deserve – from the private developer, from the city, and from their elected representatives – is enlightened urban redevelopment. When a major moribund mall in their neighborhood is at last to be redeveloped, they want that redevelopment to occur in accord with the best practices nationally and the city's own new design standards. Austinites have drunk the Kool-Aid that Austin is a "Top 10" smart, cool, progressive, and prosperous city; our civic self-esteem is now so high that we expect the best in urban design and redevelopment. Unfortunately, this pivotal site is in the hands of a developer whose narrow thinking lags far behind its own industry. Even more troubling, the city of Austin is not yet practicing the kind of sophisticated and effective urban planning that could have prevented this debacle."
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