Faculty & Research
North America’s New Town Centers: Time to Take Some Angst Out and Put More Soul In
By: Karl Kalcher, Managing Director and Founding Partner, Mindfolio
Executive Summary: In theory, the rise of mixed-use developments called town centers or life-style centers is a promising advancement for urban locations. With their blend of public amenities and commercial and residential properties, these centers create a public space that can be enjoyable, attractive, and lucrative. In reality, the design of these “town center” spaces seems to be stuck in a rut, as too many developments are little more than a collection of chain stores and restaurants, devoid of truly useable public spaces with any “sense of place.” Furthermore, the architectural sameness is frequently the result of clients’ anxiety regarding innovation. Most design ideas seem to be drawn from the same hillside town in Italy. Trends that may break the architectural “angst” include the retail brands’ increasing insistence on matching brand message with the wider brand environment, a more assertive role of hospitality operators in the design process as they become ever more cognizant of their crucial contribution to success, the public’s awareness of groundbreaking design, and the push toward sustainability. One other helpful approach might include the involvement of a knowledgeable peer group that would help target designs to local markets, in place of “stock” designs. The British have applied this approach with some success. The precipitous drop in the real estate industry’s fortunes has perforce invoked a pause in many developers’ plans. Unavoidably, some number of mediocre developments will be put on hold, many of them indefinitely. With no intent to minimize the suffering caused by the freeze in credit and real estate, there is a potential silver lining, provided the industry’s development interregnum becomes a time to reflect on ways to look forward and to pursue innovation in master planning, architecture, and leasing.
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- North America’s New Town Centers: Time to Take Some Angst Out and Put More Soul In By: Karl Kalcher, Managing Director and Founding Partner, Mindfolio
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About Karl Kalcher, Managing Director and Founding Partner, Mindfolio
Karl Kalcher is managing director and founding partner of MindFolio Ltd., a strategy consultancy (kk@mindfolio.com). MindFolio develops visions, branded concepts, and master-planned experiences, based on rigorous customer analysis and interaction, for leisure, retail, residential, and working environments in the U.S.A., Europe, and the Middle East. As senior vice president at LEGO Group, he led two $500-million projects to design and build LEGOLAND branded family parks—LEGOLAND Windsor and LEGOLAND California—as well as creating and implementing the international retail strategy for the LEGO Group. Prior to that he launched the Timberland brand in the U.K. and was board director and CEO of two global fashion and retail brands, Clarks and ecco.