Mixed-use development

Mixed-use development is a term used for two related concepts:
Use in North America vs. Europe.
Traditionally, human settlements have developed in mixed-use patterns. However, with industrialisation as well as the invention of the skyscraper, governmental zoning regulations were introduced to separate different functions, such as manufacturing, from residential areas. In the United States, the heyday of separate-use zoning was after World War II, but since the 1990s, mixed-use zoning has once again become desirable as the benefits are recognized.
In most of Europe, government policy has encouraged the continuation of the city center's role as a main location for business, retail, restaurant, and entertainment activity, unlike in the United States where zoning actively discouraged such mixed use for many decades. As a result, much of Europe's central cities are mixed use "by default" and the term "mixed-use" is much more relevant regarding new areas of the city, when an effort is made to mix residential and commercial activities – such as in Amsterdam's Eastern Docklands – rather than separate them.
Contexts.
Expanded use of mixed-use zoning and mixed-use developments may be found in a variety of contexts, such as the following (multiple such contexts might apply to one particular project or situation):
Any of the above contexts may also include parallel contexts such as:
Benefits.
Plans promoting mixed-use development or zoning claim that it will achieve numerous benefits; for example the Director of Smart Growth for the State of New York claims that mixed-use development aims to achieve:
Types of contemporary mixed-use zoning.
Some of the more frequent mixed-use scenarios in the United States are:
Examples of cities' mixed-use planning policies.
Canada.
Toronto.
One of the earliest cities to adopt a policy on mixed-use development is Toronto. The local government first played a role in 1986 with a zoning bylaw that allowed for commercial and residential units to be mixed. At the time, Toronto was in the beginning stages planning a focus on developing mixed-use development due to a growing popularity of more social housing . The law has since been updated as recently as 2013, refining much of its focus outside the downtown area which has been amalgamated into the main city since 1998. With the regulations in place, the city has oversaw the development of high-rise condominiums throughout the city with amenities and transit stops nearby. Toronto case of developing Mixed-uses has expand to encompass other North American cities in Canada and The United States to bring in similar changes.
One example of a Toronto mixed-use development is Mirvish Village by architect Gregory Henriquez. Located at Bloor and Bathurst Street, a significant intersection in Toronto, portions of the Mirvish Village project site are zoned as "commercial residential" and others as "mixed commercial residential." Within the City of Toronto's zoning by-laws, commercial residential includes "a range of commercial, residential and institutional uses, as well as parks." Mirvish Village's programmatic uses include rental apartments, a public market, and small-unit retail, while also preserving 23 of 27 heritage houses on site. The project is notable for its public consultation process, which was lauded by Toronto city officials. Architect Henriquez and the developer had previously collaborated on mixed-use projects in Vancouver, British Columbia, including the successful Woodward's Redevelopment.
United States.
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collaborates with local governments by providing researchers developing new data that estimates how a city can be impacted by mixed-use development. With the EPA putting models in the spreadsheet, it makes it much easier for municipalities, and developers to estimate the traffic, with Mixed-use spaces. The linking models also used as a resource tool measures the geography, demographics, and land use characteristics in a city. The Environmental Protection Agency has conducted an analysis on six major metropolitan areas using land usage, household surveys, and GIS databases. States such as California, Washington, New Mexico, and Virginia have adopted this standard as statewide policy when assessing how urban developments can impact traffic. Preconditions for the success of mixed-use developments are employment, population, and consumer spending. The three preconditions ensure that a development can attract quality tenants and financial success. Other factors determining the success of the Mixed-use development is the proximity of production time, and the costs from the surrounding market.
Portland.
Mixed-use zoning has been implemented in Portland, Oregon since the early 1990s, when the local government wanted to reduce the then-dominant car-oriented development style. Portland's light rail system MAX encourages the mixing of residential, commercial, and work spaces into one zone. With this one-zoning-type planning system, the use of land at increased densities provides a return in public investments throughout the city. Main street corridors provide flexible building heights and high density uses to enable "gathering places".