Public Infrastructure[edit]

Mixed-use in centers that have increased in population density has allowed people to access places
through public transit and has helped encourage walking, biking, and cycling to places of work and
errands. Transportation has played a role in mitigating climate change by reducing congestion on
roads and building up freight movement for goods and services. Street-level designs in place in
cities like Boston, Seattle, and Denver allowed for increased investments in pedestrian walkways,
plazas, and bike paths to connect shops and workplaces. This has helped reduce the need for
parking lots and garages.

Contexts[edit]
Expanded use of mixed-use zoning and mixed-use developments may be found in a variety of
contexts, such as the following (multiple such contexts might apply to one particular project or
situation):[8]

 as part of smart growth planning strategies

 in traditional urban neighborhoods, as part of urban renewal and/or infill, i.e. upgrading
the buildings and public spaces and amenities of the neighborhood to provide more and/or
better housing and a better quality of life - examples include Barracks Row in Washington,
D.C. and East Liberty, Pittsburgh
 in traditional suburbs, adding one or more mixed-use developments to provide a new or
more prominent "downtown" for the community - examples include new projects in
downtown Bethesda, Maryland, an inner suburb of Washington, D.C., and the Excelsior & Grand
complex in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, an inner suburb of Minneapolis
 greenfield developments, i.e. new construction on previously undeveloped land,
particularly at the edge of metropolitan areas and in their exurbs, often as part of creating a
relatively denser center for the community – an edge city, or part of one, zoned for mixed use, in
the 2010s often labeled "urban villages". Examples include Avalon in Alpharetta,
Georgia and Halcyon in Forsyth County, Georgia, at the edge of the Atlanta metropolitan area
 Repurposing of shopping malls and intensification of development around them, particularly
as many shopping malls' retail sales, and ability to rent space to retailers, decrease as part of
the 2010s retail apocalypse
Any of the above contexts may also include parallel contexts such as:

 Transit-oriented development - for example in Los Angeles and San Diego where the cities

made across-the-board zoning law changes permitting denser development within a certain
distance of certain types of transit stations, with the primary aim of increasing the amount and
affordability of housing[9]
 Older cities such as Chicago and San Francisco have historic preservation policies that
sometimes offer more flexibility for older buildings to be used for purposes other than what they
were originally zoned for, with the aim of preserving historic architecture [10]

Benefits[edit]
Plans promoting mixed-use development or zoning claim that it will achieve numerous benefits; for
example the Director of Smart Growth for the State of New York claims that mixed-use development
aims to achieve:[4][11]
 greater housing variety and density, more affordable housing (smaller units), life-cycle
housing (starter homes to larger homes to senior housing)
 more walkable neighborhoods
 reduced distances between housing, workplaces, retail businesses, and other amenities and
destinations
 better access to fresh, healthy foods (as food retail and farmers markets can be accessed on
foot/bike or by transit)
 more compact development, land-use synergy (e.g. residents provide customers for retail
which provide amenities for residents)
 stronger neighborhood character, "sense of place", community identity

Types of contemporary mixed-use zoning[edit]

Some of the more frequent mixed-use scenarios in the United States are: [2]

 Neighborhood commercial zoning – convenience goods and services, such

as convenience stores, permitted in otherwise strictly residential areas
 Main Street residential/commercial – two to three-story buildings with residential units
above and commercial units on the ground floor facing the street
 Urban residential/commercial – multi-story residential buildings with commercial and civic
uses on ground floor
 Office convenience – office buildings with small retail and service uses oriented to the office
workers
 Office/residential – multi-family residential units within office building(s)
 Shopping mall conversion – residential and/or office units added (adjacent) to an existing
standalone shopping mall
 Retail district retrofit – retrofitting of a suburban retail area to a more village-like
appearance and mix of uses
 Live/work – residents can operate small businesses on the ground floor of the building
where they live
 Studio/light industrial – residents may operate studios or small workshops in the building
where they live
 Hotel/residence – mix hotel space and high-end multi-family residential
 Parking structure with ground-floor retail
 Single-family detached home district with standalone shopping center

Examples of cities' mixed-use planning policies[edit]

Canada[edit]

Skyline of Toronto, Ontario featuring Condominiums

Toronto[edit]
One of the earliest cities to adopt a policy on mixed-use development