Successful Strategies for Building Up the Suburbs

What infrastructure adjustments will be necessary to adapt America's sprawling suburbs to accommodate the need and desire for more compact growth? This is the subject of a new ULI report, "Shifting Suburbs: Reinventing Infrastructure for Compact Development," which utilizes case studies from eight suburban redevelopment projects to identify the "winning strategies, stumbling blocks, and other lessons learned," in what may be America's most pressing land use challenge.

"America’s suburbs are experiencing a dramatic shift away from the development patterns of previous decades, which were almost entirely car-centric," says Patrick L. Phillips, ULI chief executive officer. "There is an increasing demand, especially among gen Y, for high-density living environments that provide access to more transportation choices. Through Shifting Suburbs, ULI is drawing from some of America’s most innovative suburban redevelopments to share lessons learned about adapting and reusing infrastructure to fit the changing needs of residents. We’re striving to help both private and public sector organizations determine how to plan, fund, and finance the often complicated infrastructure required for successful compact development."

Subjects of case studies include: Bridge Street Corridor in Dublin, Ohio; Aurora Corridor in Shoreline, Washington; Belmar in Lakewood, Colorado; State Route 7 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, Florida; White Flint/Rockville Pike in Montgomery County, Maryland; Richardson, Texas; CityCentre in Houston, Texas; and West End in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.