Posted by Kevin Matthews on July 02, 2002 at 13:44:13:In Reply to: Re: Demise of Pedestrian Malls-Competition - Enclosed Malls posted by JWmHarmon on July 02, 2002 at 07:27:50:
Review of the role of subsidized transportation and peripheral retail development in the undermining of established urban villages is much appreciated.
Tree and flowers don't particularly activate urban villages in themselves -- and neither does traffic. The primary activator is people. (Of course, under certain conditions, traffic can help, by bringing people.)
Putting it together, the failure of many urban pedestrian malls in the U.S. is probably more due to the unfair competition from subsidized peripheral development, than to the inherent difficiences of the malls themselves. The success of artificial pedestrian malls like Universal City Walk seem to help demonstrate this.
Simple corrosive real estate speculation can also play a heavy yet hidden role. In Eugene, Oregon, when the local ruling families decided they didn't like the downtown pedestrian mall, the street entertainment scene which was thriving on its own was actively brought to a halt by city ordinance. A few years later, the local ruling families were able to buy up most of the rest of the lonely downtown properties at file sale prices.
Big fast real estate money is made by turnover of the landscape, together with manipulation of governmental regulations and processes to provide sudden increases in property value.
I heard recently that there are now about 400 former Walmarts standing empty around the U.S. Disposable buildings. Disposable landscapes.
|
ArchitectureWeek
Search
Buildings
Architects
Types
Places
Pix
Free 3D Models
Store
Library
|