Urban planner Scott Polikov says the old real estate development model is kaput, but developers, and banks, have been slow to realize just how dead it is:
The fundamentals of the “bedroom community” economy have collapsed. Banks have not figured out at what point they will hit the bottom of their financing crisis. The need for radically improved, sustainability-focused strategies has never been more compelling than in this time of looming home foreclosures, $4 a gallon gas, an economy in decline, and broad agreement that the earth’s fragility is not longer just the cry of the fringe.
The new development “secret” is simple but critical: not just to reject our old way of building housing units any place, but to focus early and hard on creating and strengthening whole communities.
Not so long ago, local economic development strategies revolved almost exclusively around recruiting businesses. “Quality of life” was just a buzzword used as the calling card of the local neighborhood activists. But not today! Economic development worth its salt has become firmly connected to place, and to the environment. The quality of life of our neighborhoods, our cities and our regions has now become a bottom-line factor for many business decisions.
More here (via Planetizen).
What will replace it? What is the new real estate model for the creative economy? And what will replace the single family home (a time-wasting machine) as the new form of housing?