Successful urban mixed-use development: A cautionary tale of two cities

This study investigated how planners can implement successful mixed-use development, given regulatory, financing, and community forces fundamentally shaping urban development. Mixed-use development is frequently cited as a development type that can address a variety of social and environmental problems and has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity in redeveloping downtowns. However, its physical design and affordability outcomes are highly variable. The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how regulatory, financing, and community factors shape mixed-use development physical design and affordability outcomes, and ultimately the success of mixed-use development. The study used qualitative methodology, with case studies as the primary method and quantitative survey data to supplement the case study data. The case studies considered mixed-used development in two comparable cities with contrasting implementation methods of mixed-use development -- Pasadena, CA and Tempe, AZ.;The analytical framework on which this study was based emphasized the role of regulatory factors, particularly the type of land-use entitlement, as the most fundamental and important in the physical design and affordability of mixed-use development. The study findings have implications for both planning practice and theory. The results inform practice by illustrating how and what kind of regulatory practices and other factors affect the production of fine-grained, organically-occurring mixed-use development versus coarse-grained mixed-use development occurring in a "raze and rebuild" fashion. The research also has implications for the role of the community in mixed-use development implementation, and the importance of the community's ability to take ownership of their environment through a proactive process of having their voices translated into action.