A panel at the recent Urban Land Institute conference in Houston considers the imperative of understanding mixed-use development and its various forms.
Kyle Shelton examines the slippery definition of the term mixed-use, which can mean many things despite its central role in successful neighborhoods. The inspiration from the discussion followed a onael from the Urban Land Institute conference this year in Houston.
"Perhaps it should be obvious given their name, but mixed-use developments are rarely carbon copies of one another. Different topographies, financing needs, market aims, and developer visions may make one mixed-use project look entirely different from another just across the street," writes Shelton.
Shelton notes some of the important distinctions that get glossed over when mixed-use is allowed to be a catch-all term: "Can we call a suburban master-planned community that intentionally places homes, condos, retail, and office within a huge plot of land mixed-use? Or to receive such a label do projects need to be contained within a single large lot? What about an entire downtown? If architects lay out a comprehensive plan for a central business district (as ULI panelist Scott Johnson’s Johnson Fain did in Beijing) that includes several different uses, is it a mixed-use development?"
To begin to solidify a meaning for the term Shelton explains how panelists at the conference identified a few key elements of mixed-use (i.e., "at least three distinct uses, a connective green space, and the ability to allow users to live/work/play in same area), though such places could still vary drastically in scale and makeup.
FULL STORY: ‘Mixed-use’ is popular, but what does it mean?

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)