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THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
PLANNING ISSUE
Although development on
green fields will continue,
much new development will
redevelop and intensify
existing built-out properties.
Existing Land Use
Land Use Changes:
1970 - 2010
Regionally Significant Land Uses
Types of Landscapes
Land Use Trends
Land Use Trends
Over time, land use trends shift. Over the past decade, Montgomery County has witnessed a variety of changes in
development, and many of these will accelerate in the upcoming years.
New grocery store at the Plymouth Meeting Mall
Apartments along the Schuylkill River.
Retail will continue evolving.
Retailers have to constantly reinvent themselves to stay
competitive. Grocery stores are back at malls, and many
new shopping centers, like the Providence Town Center,
mimic old-fashioned downtowns. Chain stores have started
using a range of building formats, with smaller options
available for more developed areas or where web shopping
will be dominant.
Apartments are hot.
Apartment developments and proposals have taken off
lately, both locally and nationally. This is expected to
continue, driven by a variety of trends, including more
single person households, Generation Y’s interest in urban
living, deferred marriage and childbearing, declines in
household income, and the aging of the baby boomers.
More places will be mixed use.
Many young knowledge-economy employees want to work
or live in stimulus-rich environments. The waterfront in
Conshohocken, for example, has offices, hotels, and
apartments, while shops and restaurants are next door in the
downtown. Zoning changes to allow apartment, retail, and
entertainment uses are now commonly considered in the
county’s employment centers, like Bala Cynwyd, King of
Prussia, and Fort Washington. Part of this is driven by
declines in work space per employee, which has fallen
from 400 square feet per person in 1980 to less than 250
square feet in 2011.
Meanwhile, transit-oriented development, traditional
neighborhood design, and other mixed use approaches offer
more varied living places for county residents.
