Fighting Urban Sprawl: Mixed-Use Development

Mixed-use developments are no longer the sole purview of science fiction novels and films. These days, it is increasingly popular - and environmentally responsible - to live in a building or complex where you can work, shop, eat, exercise, watch movies, get medical care, and do everything else in your daily life.

Urban sprawl has made enormous in-roads into the land available for future development. around major cities, single-use development has led to a solid corridor that stretches 30 miles or more along the interstates. This gauntlet consists of strip malls and sound barrier walls protecting housing tracts from the noise of the cars they need so much. Every new development is further from the commercial centers than the one before it because people are building out instead of up.

They Save You Money and Time

Mixed use developments help to combat issues of finding affordable housing by taking transportation costs out of the equation. In suburban areas, combining commercial enterprise - offices, restaurants, and shops - with housing helps eliminate commutes. This means fewer cars on the road, lower emissions, and less wear and tear on infrastructure. It also means that people do not need to pay for vehicles or to insure or maintain them.

Living in a condominium in a mixed-use complex also means that your housing payments will cover common maintenance and repair issues that the owners of individual houses must cover on their own. The condo association will be responsible for things like painting the exterior, keeping the elevators running and the sprinkler system operating, and fixing a leaky roof. This allows home owners to spend their money on their families instead of paying the furnace repair person.

They Help the Environment

Using a mixed-use approach also means that the surrounding environment need not be plowed up and parceled into individual housing or strip mall lots. This leaves more room for agriculture and grazing lands, parks, and other green spaces. Such spaces are crucial for sustainable population growth.

It is also easier to incorporate such environmentally-friendly strategies as green roofs, rainwater collection, and solar or even wind power in a mixed-use development. These ideas are rarely used for single-use buildings. The buildings are rarely of a size that makes the investment worth the return. Renewable energy and water sources are unheard-of for single-family houses.

So Why Aren't They Everywhere?

Developers are leery of building mixed-used projects without a certain amount of prior interest. Anchor tenants like a large corporation or retail outlet make these developments less risky. There may still be difficulty in selling people on the idea of buying the housing units. In order for mixed-use development to become a reality, people will need to give up their dependence on vehicles. Public transportation will need to be planned between complexes and destinations.

The units are more expensive to build, as well. Concerns such as building fire walls to separate different uses and residences make construction expenses higher. That increases the the initial start-up costs for mixed-use developments and may also cause people to shy away from them.

Abandoned industrial sites are common targets for mixed-use development. When the bones of the structure are already sound, construction costs and environmental impact are minimized by reuse. Often a warehouse or factory built 100 years ago can be re-developed and the history of the building used as a selling point. This is common in towns attempting to revitalize such areas rather than allowing them to deteriorate.

Why would people want to live in communities like this? Imagine the future filled with mixed-use development: strong neighbor ties, incorporated green space for pets and children, schools and day care readily accessible. If you need to run to the store, it's an elevator ride and a short walk away. So is the office and the doctor. Consider it practice for colonizing the moon.

For more information, see article about how parking lots contribute to urban sprawl.