Retrofitting Suburbia

Michael Duva for Getty

Many say that the American Dream promised by suburbia is long dead, if it ever existed at all. Though the east end of Long Island purports to be an upstanding case in preservation of ‘rural character’, in many instances our urban planning has led to suburban development and all of its trappings, including strip malls, office parks, box stores and especially unwalkable neighborhoods built for cars. Enter Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges, a new book by June Williamson, an associate professor of architecture at the City College of New York, and Ellen Dunham-Jones, a professor of architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

This thought provoking study looks at how suburban design transformed the world, and its implications that no long suit the living needs of a majority of the population. The book records 32 recent examples of ‘suburban retrofits’ like turning failed malls into places to live and work and massive parking lots into recreation opportunities. Closer to home, the authors look at creating more walkable neighborhoods that are less car dependent, and urging social opportunities through shared spaces like the “third place” (defined as the location most frequented by people when not at home or work).

Another interesting concept lies in repurposing commercial developments into ecological corridors and stormwater treatment “parks”, by regreening and removing hard surfaces such as paving. Such ideas could prove fruitful for the east end looking for water quality improvement.

An in-depth interview with the authors with Vice can be found here.

The Retrofitting Suburbia website is here.