Resilient Suburbia

Although it’s tempting to picture packing up and leaving suburbia to peacefully degrade, we shouldn’t. We'd be missing out on the unique opportunities it provides.

Watch Chuck Marohn Speak Today via Livestream

Chuck Marohn, president of Strong Towns, is speaking in St. Catharines, Ontario today and you have the opportunity to watch that presentation live.

Top StoryStrong TownsJuly 21, 2016

So Many Shoppers, So Much Unused Parking

For years, we’ve been told that big box parking lots need to be large enough to accommodate peak parking demand. Yet even on the biggest shopping day of the year, I found oceans of empty asphalt.

#BlackFridayParking, Big Box Stores, Kobos, Parking, Top Story, #DotheMathSarah KobosJuly 21, 2016parking minimums, parking

Starting the next chapter in Detroit’s suburban story

While the landscape of Westland remains predominantly suburban, projects like this are steps toward upcycling and intensifying obsolete developments: an important shift from our historical habits of build-and-abandon.

We Can Transform Stroads and Big Box Stores into More Productive Places

Big box stores are not the enemy; they are the natural byproduct of our suburban development pattern. It's in everyone's best interest to find economically viable ways to make that land more productive.

Big Box Stores, Member Post, Top StoryCami SandersJuly 20, 2016STROADS, big box stores

Trader Joe's: Worth the Hype?

How does a store with a small footprint, few choices and well-paid employees attract so many enthusiastic customers and sell twice as much per square foot as Whole Foods?

Big Box Stores, #DotheMath, QuednauRachel QuednauJuly 20, 2016parking, tax revenue, local food, Value Per Acre, big box stores

Letting go of Suburbia

Suburbia cannot and will not be retrofitted to a substantially different model of development. But a small portion may be salvageable.

Thinking Outside the Big Box

Great design can meet multiple interests. That was the case for this urban big box store which balanced the needs of a large-scale retailer with the surrounding walkable, mixed-use neighborhood.

Big Box Stores, Top Story, Urban DesignMichael MortensenJuly 20, 2016Canada, Vancouver BC, mixed use, big box stores

Big Boxing the City

Let's take a look at how big-box stores have adapted to the urban environment of New York City.

Andrew Price, Top Story, Urban Design, Big Box StoresAndrew PriceJuly 20, 2016New York, granularity, big box stores

Stacy Mitchell on the Big Box Swindle

Stacy Mitchell, researcher and author of Big Box Swindle, discusses the origins of the big box store, the way they're subsidized by communities and how they are undercutting the American middle class.

The Future of Big Box

Building after massive building now sit empty in towns across America. Yours is up next.

Big Box Stores, Top Story, Urban Design, SanphillippoJohnny SanphillippoJuly 19, 2016California, big box stores

Big Box Stores in the Nutmeg State

The vast majority of suburban big box stores are not going to be retrofitted. They’re simply too far from anything of note and littered in unproductive locations across the country. But there may be a few exceptions...

Big Box Stores, Member Post, Top StoryThomas BroderickJuly 19, 2016suburban retrofit, mixed use, big box stores

The Shopping Mall Death Spiral

Cities that tethered their future to this experiment are going to struggle while those that still have a pulse in their core neighborhoods will have a chance at renewed prosperity.

The McAllen Main Library: A model for big box retrofit or not?

Frequently hailed as a shining example of a successful big box retrofit, the McAllen Main Library is a fantastic space. But is it a realistic model for retrofits across the country?

What to do with all of those big empty boxes...

In Austin, MN an old K-Mart was transformed into a popular museum—a big box reuse success! Or was it?

The End of the Extraction Economy

We treat big box stores as mines to be filled up and exhausted. Once depleted, we move on to design and build the next bigger mine, abandoning the former.

Big Box Stores, Member Post, Top StoryCliff MoserJuly 18, 2016Economy, suburbs, suburban retrofit, big box stores

Creating the Walmart Index - An interactive database project

We want you to contribute to a comprehensive, crowdsourced database that will examine tax productivity comparing big box stores like Walmart with compact, downtown buildings. We’re working closely with our friends at Urban3 on this to build a downloadable resource and map the data when we're done.