That's what Richard Reep proposes in this article looking at reuse options for vacant retail properties from strip malls to megamalls.
Reep believes that consumerism isn't about to come back in the way it once was, and manufacturing is better for the economy anyway:
"Production, much more than consumption, creates jobs, and the raw open space of old retail sites can be easily converted into industrial uses. Geography is in their favor. Malls were typically built if at least 3,000 surrounding households could be found to support them; today these households could provide labor, instead of cash, to the right investor looking to onshore a product."
"Florida," writes Reep, "with its abundance of unused retail space, has an opportunity to become a leader if it can attract the right kind of investor."
FULL STORY: Pimp My Stripmall, Please!
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Placer County
Mayors' Institute on City Design
City of Sunnyvale
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), the Department of City and Regional Planning (CRP)
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
City of Portland, ME
Baton Rouge Area Foundation