Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity

by Charles L. Marohn Jr.

Another design I reviewed retrofitted a neighborhood of single-family homes on cul-de-sacs. The first step was to connect the streets to form a grid. Then the intersections were intensified with commercial buildings. In between these commercial centers, the residential homes were reconstructed to bring them up to the street and form a more walkable environment. Again, as an exercise in design, it was gorgeous. I have serious doubts about the capacity of Americans to experience Suburban Retrofit as anything more than a niche undertaking in the most affluent places. The cost of these projects is enormous, far beyond what makes sense for most places. The number of people and businesses it would take to make a big-box store on the edge of town viable is more than most communities have to spare. And, if Suburban Retrofit of a site is successful, then there is an oasis of prosperity amid a disconnected suburban landscape, something that seems to merely repeat the mistakes of the modern development approach.