Wal-Mart the Savior of Suburbia

In my classes and in a few newspaper articles recently I have heard about how the spatial orientation of America is changing.  Since WWII the american dream has been the white picket fenced lot in the suburbs, with a car or two. Almost all of the people who could leave the cities did, leaving minorities and the poor trapped in a cycle of ever decreasing property values and opportunities for employment. 

In the past few years, however, the stereotypical American dream has changed. More and more affluent white people are leaving the suburbs to move back into the cities. According to some demographers the suburbs will soon become what the inner cities where in the late 70s and 80s.

The recent increase in transportation costs, if they continue, will exacerbate this trend. More and more people are looking for more dense, diverse, and walkable areas in which to live. This takes more money away from the suburban municipalities which means higher taxes to maintain the same levels of service. Also, as more poorer people move into the suburbs the need for municipal services will increase which means even higher taxes.

My hero in the battle to save the suburbs is Wal-Mart, so maybe its an anti-hero. If Wal-Mart got into real estate I think that it could anchor a lot of people in the suburbs. Wal-Mart, as with most big box stores, exisits in the suburbs because that is where they could get a whole lot of land for fairly cheep. All around Wal-Marts other shops spring up creating a semi-diverse shopping area. If Wal-Mart created some apartments or condos on top of their existing buildings, or converted the old buildings they have abandoned then there would be an almost automatic mixed use walkable area for people to live. Almost every time a mixed use development has been built the demand has been so great that the developers have made plenty of money on the investment, so the risk is small on Wal-Marts end. Other benefits for Wal-Mart would be a captive marketing audience, and the possibility of giving residents special deals in the store. If, like the majority of Wal-Marts goods, the housing was mostly low income then it could also provide housing for Wal-Mart employees.

I think that the people who could benefit most from this idea would be senior citizens. Wal-Mart already has a pharmacy, and I think I heard somewhere that there was a trial going on with having M.D.s in there as well. Seniors could then maintain their independence which is going to be a big issue with all of the boomers that will be retiring soon. 

So to recap Wal-Mart mixed use developments would:

-provide jobs, and housing for lower income people who are already moving in greater numbers to the suburbs,

-provide an expanding economic base for suburban cities that will be entering into decline,

-provide an easily accessible area for senior citizens to maintain an independent lifestyle,

-save the suburban form from dying under the weight of its own sprawl,

-allow Wal-Mart to increase penetration by offering to consolidate and increase its low income housing areas so that the cities may maintain their fiction that they are still rural (which is code for white).