Many towns and cities have at least one: the physical reminder of some particularly egregious development mistake.
In Minneapolis, one such legacy is a Kmart—the last Kmart store in Minnesota—built in the late 1970s in a plan that went south right from the start. As Jessica Lee wrote in a recent article in the MinnPost, Kmart agreed to occupy the space only “on the condition that the city would close Nicolett Avenue so the retailer could build a massive, sprawling store.”
Since then, the Kmart, a grocery store and parking lots have spanned the 10 acres between Lake and West 29th Street. Residents and businesses for decades have protested the street layout. To this day, the closure of Nicollet has been called “the worst planning mistake in Minneapolis history,” said David Frank, the city’s director of Community Planning and Economic Development.
Now, at long last, Kmart has agreed to “terminate its lease and vacate the building.” It is the culmination of a “years-long debate over what should come of the 10-acre site that interrupts the city’s street grid system.”
On this week’s episode of Upzoned, host Abby Kinney, an urban planner with Gould Evans in Kansas City, and Strong Towns senior editor Daniel Herriges (a Minnesota native) discuss the past and future of a project that’s long been a thorn in the side of locals…and people everywhere who love cities. They look at why planners in the 1970s spent millions of dollars in public funds to essentially replace urban blight with suburban blight. They also discuss how Minneapolis can ensure that one top-down mistake isn’t replaced by another, and what city governments everywhere can do to be more supportive of bottom-up energy.
Then in the Downzoned, Abby recommends The Righteous Mind, a book by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about why “good people are divided by politics and religion.” (The Righteous Mind happens to be on the Strong Towns essential reading list.) Then Daniel talks about how the latest season of Dr. Who has been a welcome distraction from all the distressing coronavirus news.
Show NotesMinneapolis’ decision to buy and demolish Minnesota’s last Kmart, explained, by Jessica Lee
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
Strong Towns Essential Reading List
Abby Kinney (Twitter)
Daniel Herriges (Twitter)
Gould Evans Studio for City Design
Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom (Soundcloud)
Select Strong Towns stories about the Twin Cities
A Minor Miracle in St. Paul, by Christa Moseng
Three Cheers for Minneapolis (The 3 is for Triplex), by Daniel Herriges
One House at a Time on St. Paul’s East Side, by Daniel Herriges
Who Gets to Decide How a Neighborhood Gets Redeveloped, by Nate Hood
How to Make City Streets More Friendly, by Jay Walljasper
Winds of Change in Kansas City
Local and Diverse > Networked and Global
Has the West Made a “Cult” of Home Ownership?
This $15 Trillion Market Is On the Verge of Collapse
Bonus Episode: The Bottom-Up Revolution
"We Can't Micromanage Great Urban Design Into Existence."
Winter Is Coming: Will Restaurants (and Customers) Adapt to Help Businesses Survive?
Why Cities Shouldn’t Wait for the Feds to Do Something about Reparations
Fragile Policies are Making California More Vulnerable to Megafires
For City Planners, Community Consensus Shouldn't Be the Standard
For U.S. Transit, "Death Spiral" Shouldn't Have Been an Option in the First Place
Can the Right and Left Come Together on Zoning Reform?
Pandemic Fallout: Will New York City Experience Long-term Decline?
"This Makes No Sense": An Ill-Fated Comprehensive Plan in Texas (and Why It Matters Where You Live)
Finding a Room to Rent in Boulder Won't Get Easier Anytime Soon
Help Shape the Future of the Strong Towns Podcasts
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Housing Prices?
Down to Earth: Time to Re-examine the Hype around Skyscrapers
A Better Use of Federal Infrastructure Spending
The U.S. Has An Affordable Housing Problem. Are Dead Shopping Malls the Solution?
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