Season 3 Episode 49: Connecting Suburbia: A discussion between Joel Kotkin and June Williamson |NewCities Podcast |May 30, 2022
Architecture professor June Williamson and urban geographer Joel Kotkin explore how history led to the suburbs we know today, and how emerging mobility solutions may ease the transition.
Some struggling shopping malls in the U.S. are being converted into health clinics | By Blake Farmer and Kaiser Heath News | April 25, 2022
Nationwide, 32 enclosed malls house health care services in at least part of their footprint, according to a database kept by Ellen Dunham-Jones, a Georgia Tech urban design professor.
How to Make the Suburbs More Affordable | By Carlos Waters, Jason Reginato, Alex Wood, and Lindsey Jacobson | April 6, 2022
A snarled supply chain, a labor shortage, and rising interest rates are worsening what some call a “throwaway” development pattern. Several real estate industry experts have ideas about how to make housing more attainable.
The Suburban Office Park Rises from the Dead | By Nate Berg | Sept 27, 2021
Across the country, old office parks are being turned into vibrant, mixed-use spaces.
Climate Solutions to Meet the Suburban Surge: Leveraging COVID-19 Recovery to Enhance Suburban Climate Governance | By Hannah Teicher | July 15, 2021
We must go beyond narratives that position suburbs as helpful accessories and argue instead that suburbs themselves can be a locus of climate action.
Winner of the 2021 Great Places Award for Books |Presented by the Environmental Design Research Association|May 2021
In selecting Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia, the book award jury cited the impressive range of problem identification and geographic distribution within the extensive list of relevant case studies.
Read Announcement on EDRA’s Website
Re-designing America’s Suburbs for the Age of Climate Change and Pandemics | By Thomas Daniels | May 12, 2021
A sustainable suburb scenario offers an alternative to the sprawling development, separation of land uses and income classes, and automobile dependence that characterizes the typical American suburban landscape.
Going to School in a Dead Mall? Not Such a Bad Idea. | By Alexandra Lange | Mar 13, 2021
The genre may be nearly dead, yet the building remains. And for economic, ecological, and social reasons, those buildings should be reused.
The People the Suburbs Were Built for Are Gone | By Shayla Love | Jan 21, 2021
A new book documents the “retrofitting” of obsolete suburban malls, box stores, office parks, parking lots, motels, and more.
Is a Sustainable Suburbia Still Possible Post-Pandemic? | By Melissa Dalton | Nov 16, 2020
In 2010, Dwell took a look at four radical plans to reshape and retrofit spaces outside of our cities. Ten years later, we asked experts if those plans were possible or pie-in-the-sky.
Once Meccas of Retail Therapy, Now Homes to Elder Americans | By John F. Wasik | Oct 24, 2020
Former malls and abandoned shopping-center sites are in the midst of a repurposing — and one of those new uses is senior housing.
Like It or Not, the Suburbs Are Changing | By Julie Lasky | Oct 16, 2020
You may think you know what suburban design looks like, but the authors of a new book are here to set you straight.
Five myths about the suburbs | by June Williamson | Oct 2, 2020
Suburbs are as varied and plural as the United States. Yet our mythology casts “the suburbs” as somehow separate, frozen in amber (not to mention in need of “saving”).
If COVID-19 pushes people to the suburbs, how can we make them more environmentally friendly? | By Talib Visram | Oct 2, 2020
As people move out of dense cities and into sprawling suburbs, their carbon footprint could actually increase.
Revenge of the Suburbs | by Ian Bogost | June 19, 2020
Suburbia was never as bad as anyone said it was. Now it’s looking even better.
A MANIFESTO FOR A NEW SUBURBIA: Eight ideas for future-proofing the suburbs | By Alissa Walker | Nov 11, 2019
America’s suburbs are changing—how can that change be harnessed for good? “Even suburban communities with a seemingly large supply of ‘developable’ greenfield land should think hard about business as usual,” says June Williamson, co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia.
Suburbia is in decline. How these towns are fighting back. | by Times of Trenton Editorial Board| Updated Jan 29, 2019; Posted Oct 05, 2018
Building a better 'burb: The race to design a sustainable suburbia is also making the suburbs kind of cool | by Diane Stopyra | Oct 2, 2016
Ecological concerns have led to a long overdue look at the design of suburbs. The results could be revolutionary
Gentrify Those Suburban Parking Lots | by Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson | April 13, 2014
Redevelopment often brings fears of displacement from gentrification, especially when residential buildings are demolished. However, the impact on adjacent residents is less clear.
Why Do The Suburbs Still Matter? |Heard on TED Radio Hour | June 11, 2012
In this Talk, Ellen Dunham-Jones takes an unblinking look at underperforming suburbs and makes a proposal that would transform them into livable, sustainable places.
Recycling the Suburbs | By Bryan Walsh | Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009
The American suburb as we know it is dying. The implosion began with the housing bust, which started in and has hit hardest the once vibrant neighborhoods outside the urban core.