Can Stand Alone Malls Survive? Smug bikers, underwater cities, rail revolution, more
Hayley Richardson | Fri, Feb 15th, 2008 | Category: Headlines | Tags: hayley richardson, green space, stand-alone malls, ripon college, amsterdam, coal mine, clean energy, arabian villa, liberal arts, canals
Can Stand Alone Malls Survive?
The stand-alone mall isn’t dead. It’s just dysfunctional. That was one of the sentiments expressed at an Urban Land Institute panel that tackled the question, “Can stand-alone malls survive?” The question was posed Thursday, during ULI’s annual Reinventing Retail conference at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.”
Enclosed courtyards with the cool comforts of shady trees and water fountains — the basic features of the traditional Arabian villa — can be applied to building a whole city.This idea was proposed by Peter Calthorpe, an American urban designer, founder and president of Calthorpe Associates in California, during the one-day conference on ‘Building a Sustainable Future’, held at the Emirates Palace Hotel here on Wednesday.”
“The shape of the urban environment will be under the microscope later this year when experts from across the continent and the world meet for the Planning Africa 2008 Conference This year, the conference is hosted by the City of Johannesburg and is taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre from 13 to 16 April. The theme is Shaping the Future, and the delegates will hold discussions and give presentations on the recent fundamental changes in planning on the African continent.”
“The country’s largest builder of luxury homes has unveiled plans for a massive luxury condo and townhouse project on the shores of one of the Big Apple’s most polluted waterways. Toll Brothers filed paperwork with the city Planning Department for a 605,380-square-foot development off the Gowanus Canal – a project of that would change the face of the isolated long-time industrial area.”
“For the first time in nearly a century, railroads are making large investments in their networks—adding sets of tracks, straightening curves that force engines to slow and expanding tunnels for bigger trains. Their campaign is altering the corridors of American commerce, more so than any other development since interstate highways spread to the interior. For decades, railroads spent little on expansion, even tore up surplus track and shrank routes. But since 2000 they’ve spent $10 billion to expand tracks, build freight yards and buy locomotives, and they have $12 billion more in upgrades planned.”
Liberal Arts Biking
“Ripon College, a private liberal-arts school in Wisconsin, has launched a program to give new bikes to first-year students who pledge not to bring their cars to campus for the year. Prompted by concerns that the school might have to expand parking lots into green space if the growing student population keeps driving to (and parking at) school, Ripon decided to take the unconventional approach instead.”
“It seems a bit counter-intuitive; we are used to seeing Dutch floating projects, not buried ones. Architect Moshé Zwarts says “"There has always been a lack of space in the city, so what we are doing is building a city under the city by using a new construction technique, which will not interfere with street traffic."- by draining and then building under the canals.”
From Coal Mine to Clean Energy Village
“Coal mining communities may do well to start taking note of what’s been going on at the former Ollerton colliery in Nottinghamshire in the UK. Ollerton closed its doors in 1995, resulting in mass unemployment in the community. However, as we read in the ever informative Guardian, the locals were determined to create a brighter, cleaner future for their town”
