Hybrid Buildings / Hybrid Landscapes

The recent development of transit in St. Louis is a prototypical issue that is being grappled with by many former-industrial metropolitan regions. Designs must address fragmented residential districts separated by bands of industrial zones and a constellated-array of suburban “downtowns” that are often unable to be directly linked. The cross-county MetroLink extension in St. Louis and its relationship to the streetcar suburb of Maplewood, Missouri typifies these difficulties and provides a means of exploring strategies for transit-oriented development (T.O.D.) and the redensification of inner-ring suburbs.