Exhibit looks at suburbs’ future
In the 1980s, Boca Raton Mall in Florida was a traditional, enclosed shopping center that faced a large, usually empty parking lot and was struggling to remain viable after the opening of a new shopping area across town.
So city officials decided to transform it. Apartments and business offices were weaved into the retail space, the parking lot was turned into another string of mixed-use properties, and a tree-lined promenade was created in the middle of the newly established street that ran between the two sides.
Today, the since-renamed Mizner Park is a rare example of an upscale suburban development with a decidedly urban feel. Residents walk to thriving retail businesses and restaurants, and the living space is in high demand, with apartments renting for $2,000 a month.
The Mizner Park transformation is one of a handful of suburban development projects currently on display at the Rochester Regional Community Design Center. Joined by examples from Colorado, Maryland, Texas and California, Mizner Park is the type of development that suburbanites are increasingly going to flock to, said Ellen Dunham-Jones, professor of architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
But despite the presence of hundreds of floundering malls throughout the country, it’s a concept that hasn’t caught on in many suburbs.
“People expect change downtown, and yet we have a cultural expectation where we expect that the suburbs will forever remain frozen in whatever form they were first in,” said Dunham-Jones.
“But you’ve got a lot of dying strip malls, and there are some very interesting, very positive things that people are doing with them.”
While it might be hard to imagine Marketplace Mall being outfitted with apartments and offices, it’s a concept that might seem less far-fetched in the future. “When the price of gas gets to the point where people are going to have issues with car travel, (malls) are going to suffer,” said Roger Brown, board president of the RRCDC. “To make them work, they’re going to have to have residences close by.”
The RRCDC displays are all discussed in a book co-authored by Dunham-Jones called Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. The exhibit is open until April 26, and Dunham-Jones will speak on the subject in Rochester on Tuesday.
She is the fourth of six people who will speak as part of the RRCDC’s “Reshaping Rochester” lecture series, which focuses on this year’s theme: Adapting Suburbs in the 21st Century.
“The skeptics would say this is utopian visioning, but it’s really not about utopian visioning,” said Daniel Cosentino, curator of the RRCDC exhibit. “We don’t have an agenda for re-greening the planet. We’re just trying to look at what a livable community is and what creates a better space for living.”
SDOBBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com
If you go
Adapting Suburbs in the 21st Century
What: Rochester Regional Community Design Center exhibit.
Where: 1115 E. Main St., Door 4.
When: March 5 through April 26 on Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by appointment.
Cost: Free.
Information: Call (585) 271-0520 or go to www.rrcdc.org.
Retrofitting Suburbia
What: Ellen-Dunham Jones lecture.
Where: Irondequoit United Church of Christ, 644 Titus Ave.
When: Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Cost: $15 in advance or $20 at the door. $5 for students.
Information: Call (585) 271-0520 or go to www.rrcdc.org.
