Sacramento Building Performance

A regular reader of my blog sent me this video of a January 2010 TED Talk by Georgia based architect Ellen Dunham-Jones.  Dunham-Jones is widely recognized as a leader in finding solutions for aging suburbs.  She is the co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. 

Suburban "Town Center" Retrofit in Virginia

As you drive around the largely suburban Sacramento area you can’t help notice small vacant strip malls and even larger older malls with For Lease signs in the storefronts.  Much of this is due obviously to the state of our economy.   Someday the economy will come back, and when it does, instead of continuing to build out farther from the center, why not consider retrofitting these older areas?  Sociologists have found that even though many Americans prefer the suburbs they desire opportunities to have urban-like experiences and entertainment in those suburbs.  Something more than the air-conditioned malls, a space sharing more of a community feel with streets and shops to meet and congregate. 

As her presentation shows there are a number of successful projects nationwide that have managed to do just that. 

Here’s the video: 

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