You’ve probably seen them: photos of malls that seemed to be thriving just a few years ago but which now stand lifeless — along with their many acres of parking — except for the odd tree growing up where a sunglasses kiosk used to be. These are the fossils of the “retail apocalypse,” the long trend (now accelerated by COVID-19) that has seen the shuttering of thousands of brick-and-mortar retail stores over the last 20 years.
Cities, planners, architects, developers, and residents alike have wondered what can be done, if anything, with America’s growing stock of abandoned malls. One idea gaining traction — including offers of federal assistance — is to retrofit dying mall sites into something new: apartments. Each week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney, an urban planner in Kansas City, takes a news story that touches the Strong Towns conversations and she “upzones” it, examining it in light of the Strong Towns approach to growing stronger and more financially resilient cities. This week, Abby and her regular cohost, Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn, look at a recent article by Patrick Sisson in Bloomberg CityLab, entitled "The Dying Mall’s New Lease on Life: Apartments.”
Together, Abby and Chuck discuss plans by the Trump administration to help convert old malls into affordable housing. Is this a good use of federal stimulus funds? They talk about the problems with top-down approaches to affordable housing, the “psychology of previous investment” (a phrase coined by our friend James Howard Kunstler), and why the U.S. keeps pumping money into “Big.” They also look at an example of someone who is trying to redevelop an old mall site from the bottom-up, but then ask: Can that approach scale?
Then in the Downzone, Chuck talks about becoming a surprise boat owner. And Abby recommends Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, the new book by Colin Woodard.
Additional Show Notes:
"The Dying Mall’s New Lease on Life: Apartments,” by Patrick Sisson
Abby Kinney (Twitter)
Chuck Marohn (Twitter)
Gould Evans Studio for City Design
Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom (Soundcloud)
Other Strong Towns articles about shopping malls
"Just when you thought the end of malls couldn't get any worse…," by Rachel Quednau
”The Shopping Mall Death Spiral," Charles Marohn
”The End of Big Malls Means Big Problems," by Rachel Quednau
Amazon vs. Malls: What Does it Mean for Local Economies?
Meat Suit Cities: Reconciling Aesthetics with Progress
Housing is About Capital Flow, and Always Has Been
Has Infrastructure Become the "Ultimate Partisan Battleground"?
Does Subsidizing Electric Vehicles Promote Car Dependency?
How People-Centered Is Toronto's "People-Centered" Vision?
"If you have a property in the city, you should not leave it empty."
How a Small California Town is Charting Its Own Course to Energy Resilience
How Christchurch, New Zealand became a lesson in how NOT to rebuild after a disaster
When (If Ever) Should States Preempt Cities?
A Game-Changer for Economic Development in Arizona
Does Increasing Available Housing Cause Gentrification?
What Can We Hope For from a Mayor Pete D.O.T.?
Parking's "Free Ride" Is a Financial Disaster for Cities
Public Housing and the Housing Crisis
The Problem with Creating “Slow Streets” Too Fast
"Will Cities Survive 2020?"
For Teens, No Room in the Pandemic City
Will Wyoming Have to Start "Abandoning" Its Small Towns?
COVID-19 and the Boom in Multigenerational Housing
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