Today in an article titled How About Gardening or Golfing at the Mall, the NY Times reported on the effect that the struggling economy has had on the nation's many malls. From Cleveland and Toledo to Buffalo and Detroit, vacant malls and the cost of their upkeep have forced local governments, developers and community activists to rethink these spaces and incorporate community needs into their redesign and development plans. We couldn't help but cheer the projects that aim to return failed shopping centers to the Commons with the creation of parks and community farms. Other good reuses have included schools, medical clinics, churches and vegetable gardens. Seems like developers finally get it ― we want to live in a community, with places to gather and share. According to the article, "Even at many malls that continue to thrive, developers are redesigning them as town squares — adding elements like dog parks and putting greens, creating street grids that go through the malls, and restoring natural elements like creeks that were originally paved over." 

This recent piece builds on decades of studies related to reclaiming failed malls and converting the dead spaces to mixed-use, walkable centers that create dense and vibrant neighborhoods. One report, Greyfields into Goldfields, completed in 2001 by the Congress for the New Urbanism and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 19% of the country's malls are empty and should be made "into thriving developments that provide a return on investment for owners and economic and social support for their host communities."

It's good to see change come... though terribly slowly. Now, if we can just get to a point where such colossal mistakes are avoided in the first place and community development shifts into a more thoughtful, sustainable and democratic planning process.

the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured. ― Kurt Vonnegut  

Development is about transforming the lives of people, not just transforming economies. ― Joseph E. Stiglitz