“Retrofitting Suburbia”? Yes, Please.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how old strip malls, regional malls, and big box retailers impact our communities and disrupt the character of an area or neighborhood – especially when the lights go out. The disruption has become more vivid in the past five or so years as the demand for retail bricks-and-mortar has declined, which has only accelerated because of the pandemic and our new reliance on e-commerce. While this development pattern presents itself most dominantly in the suburbs, it also exists in our more urban neighborhoods as a result of urban renewal efforts of the 1960s and 1970s. So why think about these areas now? Because it seems like more and more these users are vacating their sites leaving in their path a large non-descript building with a sea of parking that inevitably becomes a breeding ground for weeds. This week I came across an article in the Star Tribune entitled, “2 Minnesota projects are models for 'retrofitting suburbia' which is an article about a couple recent projects in Minnesota that were featured in a collection of case studies described by architects June Williamson and Ellen Dunham-Jones in their 2021 volume, “Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia.” (A link to the article can be found here: https://www.startribune.com/retrofitting-suburbia-2-twin-cities-examples-are-models-for-the-nation/600046726/)
I encourage you to take a look at the article, because it’s a great start to thinking about how we can repurpose and redevelop these spaces back into our communities. It was kind of nice to learn that I’m not the only one thinking about this on a large-scale, because it’s going to take a lot of creativity, investment and capital to reinvigorate these spaces again. Of course, I’m familiar with both the Wayzata and Maplewood projects so it left me wanting to know more about the other Case Studies from around the country. So, like any other good pandemic-minded person, I promptly logged onto my Amazon account and ordered my own version of “Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia.”
-Jennifer