retrofitting suburbia

‘As the country looks ahead to recovery from this recession, it is clear that public/private partnerships at a multitude of scales—national, state, and local—will be needed more than ever to collectively take on the challenges and opportunities to retrofit suburbia.’

The importance of the partnerships that Dunham-Jones references cannot be overstated. One of the major takeaways from the readings this semester is that architecture is created (for better or worse) with consideration of so many participants beyond the O/A/C triad - politics and the community, in particular, are greatly influential on a project’s outcome.

As to the notion of retrofitting suburbia: I believe that in some ways, surburbia (vs. the urban context) presents a more promising future for the practice of implementing ecologically-conscious design. Dense, urban centers must contend with the physical congestion of the city, tighter ordinances, and larger groups to satisfy. It is possible that architects can take advantage of the current state of affairs, using the knowledge gained from the urban context, to design a more human-scale environment than has been seen in previous developments.