Downtown Malling Continues To Haunt Some Cities

The Silicon Valley cities of Mountain View and Sunnyvale are alike in many ways. But their downtowns offer a study in contrasts because of land use decisions made 30 years ago.

1 minute read

June 29, 2007, 8:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera


Like many suburbs in the 1970s, Sunnyvale approved and subsidized development of a mall as a way of "saving" downtown. It didn't work out that way in the in the long-run, as the mall itself blocked downtown progress.

While Sunnyvale was building a mall, though, neighboring Mountain View was laying the groundwork for what is now a thriving suburban downtown. Was it all foresight and good land use planning by Mountain View city leaders, or was there some luck involved?

Thanks to Paul Shigley

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 in California Planning & Development Report

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