For years, some developers have embraced the notion of multi-use retail developments that incorporate office and residential space into the plan. Today, municipalities understand the need to take these mixed-used developments a step further by adding features that serve all community residents. To reach this goal, community leaders should work with developers at the beginning stages of retail mixed-used projects to incorporate variety and density.

“Densification,” according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), is the process in which developers create entirely new communities or add components to existing purely retail projects by incorporating non-retail components. With the concept of “new urbanism,” retail projects have added offices and residential components, but the new centers coming on stream are committing and dedicating space to a wider variety of uses. For the community, densification allows the development to be woven into the society of the neighborhood by providing amenities, services and facilities that previously were not found in typical mixed-use developments.

The ICSC publication, “2007 In the Pipeline,” provides details on 36 retail projects—either new ones or redevelopments—that are being planned or under construction in the United States and Canada. The following are some of the non-retail components that will, from the viewpoint of city leaders, increase the density, and therefore the usefulness, of these projects:

Densification can give communities the opportunity to gain needed or desired facilities and services that might otherwise not be affordable and to have input into developments to ensure they meet community standards. It could be the ultimate public/private sector partnership.