Rethinking Corridors
Zoning Practice — February 2011
By David Dixon
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Over the last half-century, arterial corridors that connected 19th-century villages and served as the Main Streets of early 20th-century downtowns and neighborhoods evolved into the primary engines — and icons — of sprawl. Zoning and other regulatory tools institutionalized a continuous pattern of low-density, auto-oriented strip development that reflected both the realities of American real estate markets and the planning goals of many American communities from the end of World War II until recently.
Over the past decade, rapid demographic changes and related shifts in real estate economics and community values set the stage for transforming many arterial corridors into "strings of pearls" — pedestrian-oriented, mixed use, higher density, walkable redevelopment connected by stretches of auto-oriented strip development. These nodes offer significant quality-of-life and economic opportunity benefits for host communities — reviving urban main streets and suburban town centers.
This issue of Zoning Practice discusses how corridor planning initiatives can lead to significant benefits for host communities. It highlights several examples of successful arterial corridor planning efforts that leveraged new zoning to promote transformation.
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About the Author
David Dixon
<p>David’s work focuses on creating “five-minute places—where diverse people choose to live, work, play, interact, and invest—to unlock untapped potential and expand equity for post-pandemic downtowns, underperforming innovation clusters, and auto-oriented suburbs. Signature examples: Unified Post-Katrina Recovery and Master Plan for New Orleans, Kendall Square (Cambridge), transformation of Cabrini-Green (Chicago) and Bunker Hill (Boston) public housing into mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods and downtown plans for Albany NY, Birmingham AL, El Paso, Flemington NJ, Hammond IN Memphis, Moorhead MN, New Orleans, and Wichita KS.</p><p>He work has received more than three dozen national awards from the APA and other national planning and urban design organizations.</p><p>The AIA awarded David its Thomas Jefferson Medal for <em>"a lifetime of creating livable neighborhoods, vibrant civic spaces, and vital downtowns." </em>Architecture Magazine inducted him into their Hall of Fame as <em>"the person we call to ask about cities."</em></p><p>Writing:</p><p>Urban Design for an Urban Century (Wiley, 2015), co-author.</p><p>Suburban Remix (Island Press, 2018), co-editor.</p><p>Within Walking Distance: How Five-minute Neighborhoods Are Reinventing Downtown (Princetown University Press, Spring 2027), author.</p>