Leinberger on the Future of the Suburb

Christopher B. Leinberger is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and professor of practice in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan. Over the past week, his opinions on the future of the suburb have appeared in the media. While I don't agree with all of Leinberger's views, he does offer some insights that are worthy of further discussion.

On November 25, 2011, Leinberger wrote an op-ed The Death of the Fringe Suburb for the New York Times.

Here are a few excerpts from Leinberger's op-ed...

• Drive through any number of outer-ring suburbs in America, and you’ll see boarded-up and vacant strip malls, surrounded by vast seas of empty parking spaces. These forlorn monuments to the real estate crash are not going to come back to life, even when the economy recovers. And that’s because the demand for the housing that once supported commercial activity in many exurbs isn’t coming back, either.

• The cities and inner-ring suburbs that will be the foundation of the recovery require significant investment at a time of government retrenchment. Bus and light-rail systems, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements — what traffic engineers dismissively call “alternative transportation” — are vital. So is the repair of infrastructure like roads and bridges.

• It is time to instead build what the market wants: mixed-income, walkable cities and suburbs that will support the knowledge economy, promote environmental sustainability and create jobs.

In our rush to support the knowledge economy, I hope we don't forget those who may not be working in that particular sector. Remember, you can't have a knowledge economy without skilled tradespeople like electricians, plumbers, and carpenters.

On December 1, 2011, Metromode carried the article From Suburban To Urban. Leinberger was interviewed by Kim North Shine, Metromode's Development News editor.

I found several suggestions by Leinberger in that article on Downtown Development Authorities (DDAs) to be very interesting:

• To my way of thinking the best of all possible worlds would be a DDA assembling land and creating cash flow strategies. But the implementation on the ground would be a business improvement district. Together they are the hand-in-glove. Then you're getting the best of two worlds, the public and the private sector. The best way to do that is to have overlapping boards, a DDA with a board, a business improvement district that has a board, and some overlap so you know what each other is doing. It's best when they trust each other.

• One of the most insidious things that happens in a downtown turnaround is the public sector comes in and says we're in charge, all decisions go through us. Generally, they do not make great real estate developers, and they shut down what the private sector does best.

• The public DDAs that say we're here to help the private sector are the ones that get the best results. For every $1 spent there should be $10-$15 of private money. If the public sector comes in heavy handed they will shut down the private money. Again it needs to be this partnership. I find it best if it's not a public-private, but a private-public. I intentionally flip those words.