Central Business Districts are under pressure to keep themselves relevant as they face competition from new, vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods emerging across the world’s largest cities. Public-private partnerships could be the answer.
These new mixed-use neighborhoods are attracting more businesses, residents, and investment that might otherwise be directed toward the urban core. Cities can compete with this trend by collaborating with developers, government agencies, and academic institutions to encourage redevelopment of existing buildings—converting office space to residential use, for example, according to a recent report from JLL.
Governments should anticipate real estate market demand changes and provide greater flexibility to developers and investors. Cities and states can expand tax credits to offset the cost of conversion and streamline the planning process to reduce the lead time for redevelopment projects.
These projects also offer environmental benefits. Refurbishing buildings has a lower carbon impact compared to building new structures.
Related Stories
Mixed-Use | Aug 30, 2017
Former industrial building becomes 'lifestyle community' in ever-evolving Baltimore
The new community offers 292 apartments with 20,000 sf of retail space.
Mixed-Use | Aug 30, 2017
A 50-acre waterfront redevelopment gets under way in Tampa
Nine architects, three interior designers, and nine contractors are involved in this $3 billion project.
Mixed-Use | Aug 18, 2017
Covington, Wash., greenlights a 214-acre mixed-use development
A peninsula will extend into the property’s 20-acre lake and contain retail shops, restaurants, a pavilion park, homes, and green space.
Mixed-Use | Aug 17, 2017
Manhattan’s Union Square gets its very own farmhouse
GrowNYC, a sustainability-focused nonprofit, commissioned ORE Design to create the community events center and learning space.
Mixed-Use | Aug 15, 2017
A golf course community converts into an agrihood with 1,150 homes and a working olive grove
The community will cover 300 acres in Palm Springs, Calif.
Mixed-Use | Aug 10, 2017
Mixed-use development includes University of California-San Diego campus extension
The 562,000-sf development was designed by Carrier Johnson + CULTURE and is located five blocks from the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park.
Mixed-Use | Aug 9, 2017
Mixed-use development will act as a gateway to Orange County’s ‘Little Saigon’
The development will include apartments, ground-floor retail, and a five-story hotel.
Mixed-Use | Aug 8, 2017
Dorte Mandrup’s 74,000-sm masterplan will be highlighted by an IKEA and BIG’s ‘Cacti’
The mixed-use development links a new IKEA store, a hotel, and housing with green space.
Mixed-Use | Aug 3, 2017
A sustainable mixed-use development springs from a Dutch city center like a green-fringed crystal formation
MVRDV and SDK Vastgoed won a competition to redevelop the inner city area around Deken van Someren Street in Eindhoven.
Mixed-Use | Aug 2, 2017
Redevelopment of Newark’s Bears Stadium site receives team of architects
Lotus Equity Group selected Michael Green Architecture, TEN Aquitectos, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, and Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners to work on the project.