The Deleted Scenes - What a Strip Mall Can Be
What a Strip Mall Can BeNorthern Virginia's Eden Center is neither standard sprawl nor modern redevelopmentThis is a strip mall: I wrote about this shopping center, called Eden Center, for Strong Towns earlier this week: check out the piece. Eden Center is home to over 100 mostly independent/local businesses, the majority Vietnamese shops or restaurants. They cater to a large Vietnamese-American community in the region, but the place has also become one of the few tourist attractions in the D.C. suburbs. Unlike the more modern developments that compete in some ways with the city—Reston Town Center further west in Northern Virginia, or a series of mixed-use developments around Rockville, Maryland—Eden Center fundamentally remains a strip plaza. From my original piece:
The things that make Eden Center attractive—its high commercial density and concentration of businesses, its outdoor seating, it’s use of the space for cultural events, and its ornamentation—are cosmetic, in some ways. They’re more than that, but even cosmetic changes matter. If a little bit of ornamentation can enhance a matchstick box in the suburbs or a walk-up apartment building on main street, why can’t they enhance a strip mall? I like Eden Center for its culinary and cultural interest, and because of the weird juxtaposition of this with its location. (It’s located around an area known as Seven Corners, a massive intersection of the region’s biggest highways, producing seven lonely juts of land which all house or once housed major shopping centers.) But what interests me more here is Eden Center’s approach to enlivening a substandard built environment. There are lots of approaches to this—tear it all down and build a fake downtown, for example. Or approaches known as “sprawl repair” or “suburban retrofit.” Or, of course, the “Strong Towns approach.” Much of what Strong Towns writes about focuses on urban environments—small towns and urban neighborhoods—and how those places can put people first and build wealth that sustains the place over time. The focus is not on transforming or redeveloping places wholesale, but on working with what you have and making slow, humble improvements. The point of my piece is that this approach can also be applied to the very environments that urbanists often write off or ignore. Much of suburbia as currently constituted has to change in some way. Many think that will either be either the opposites of decay or total redevelopment. But what a place like Eden Center suggests is that a different kind of change is possible—more like an evolution, as people adapt these substandard forms, and as the kinds of businesses that inhabit them see a devolution in scale. I don’t know how many stores originally existed in the plaza that is now Eden Center—it was built in the 1960s—but there’s absolutely no way it was 125, which is the number cited by the shopping center’s website. In 1999, this Washington Post article cites it as 100 even. (The center was expanded in 1996.) It’s unusual to see a strip mall actually grow the number of enterprises housed in it over the years, let alone with much of that growth not driven by physical expansion! When you read about places like this, that have special appeal to a particular ethnic or immigrant community, you’ll often see that people drive hours to get to them. These places sort of function like urban downtowns: big agglomerations of businesses that are worth big, if occasional, visits and shopping trips. The standard suburban layout is actually hiding a lot of vitality and a lot of subtle adaptation. We should think twice about redeveloping old suburban environments like this from the top down, in ways that treat these places as blank slates. It’s true that lot of postwar development is aging out, and that retail was overbuilt in the 20th century. It’s also true that many of these places now have a housing shortage. That’s a big reason large-scale mixed-use development is trendy right now. But we’re also reaching a point where these suburban landscapes have gone through a few generations, and have taken on a life and complexity that their physical form fails to fully credit. This phenomenon is an embodiment of slow, cautious, incremental improvement, that involves and works with everyday people and small business owners. And it also demonstrates that for all their flaws, these places are now deeply settled and full of meaning. We don’t really know how they’ll incrementally evolve in the next, say, 50 years. But I hope we’re able to find out. Related Reading: A Different Take on Suburban Parking Lots Dollar Stores and Retail Evolution Revisited Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekend subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive of over 200 posts and growing. And you’ll help ensure more material like this! You’re a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. |
Older messages
Olive and Other Oils
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #41
A Wide, Wide Road Revisited
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
When weather humbles the work of traffic engineers
Still Renting After All These Years
Monday, January 17, 2022
Thoughts on the generational aspect of our housing crisis
Preserved by Abandonment
Saturday, January 15, 2022
An ordinary, stunning find in old suburbia
New and Old #40
Friday, January 14, 2022
Friday roundup and commentary
You Might Also Like
*This* Is How To Wear Skinny Jeans Like A Fashion Girl In 2025
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
The revival is here. The Zoe Report Daily The Zoe Report 3.11.2025 This Is How To Wear Skinny Jeans Like A Fashion Girl In 2025 (Style) This Is How To Wear Skinny Jeans Like A Fashion Girl In 2025 The
The Best Thing: March 11, 2025
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
The Best Thing is our weekly discussion thread where we share the one thing that we read, listened to, watched, did, or otherwise enjoyed recent… ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The Most Groundbreaking Beauty Products Of 2025 Are...
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Brands are prioritizing innovation more than ever. The Zoe Report Beauty The Zoe Report 3.11.2025 (Beauty) The 2025 TZR Beauty Groundbreakers Awards (Your New Holy Grail Or Two) The 2025 TZR Beauty
Change Up #Legday With One of These Squat Variations
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
View in Browser Men's Health SHOP MVP EXCLUSIVES SUBSCRIBE Change Up #Legday With One of These Squat Variations Change Up #Legday With One of These Squat Variations The lower body staple is one of
Kylie Jenner Wore The Spiciest Plunging Crop Top While Kissing Timothée Chalamet
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Plus, Amanda Seyfried opens up about her busy year, your daily horoscope, and more. Mar. 11, 2025 Bustle Daily Amanda Seyfried at the Tory Burch Fall RTW 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion
Paris Fashion Week Is Getting Interesting Again
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Today in style, self, culture, and power. The Cut March 11, 2025 PARIS FASHION WEEK Fashion Is Getting Interesting Again Designs at Paris Fashion Week once again reflect the times with new aesthetics,
Your dinner table deserves to be lazier
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
NY delis are serving 'Bird Flu Bailout' sandwiches.
Sophie Thatcher Lets In The Light
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Plus: Chet Hanks reaches new heights on Netflix's 'Running Point.' • Mar. 11, 2025 Up Next Your complete guide to industry-shaping entertainment news, exclusive interviews with A-list
Mastering Circumstance
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
“If a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.” ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Don't Fall for This Parking Fee Scam Text 🚨
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
How I Use the 'One in, One Out' Method for My Finances. You're not facing any fines. Not displaying correctly? View this newsletter online. TODAY'S FEATURED STORY Don't Fall for the