Decades ago, who would have thought that the graffiti-covered walls of deteriorated industrial buildings would catalyze the regeneration of an entire urban community? A panel at ULI Washington’s recent Trends Conference explored strategies for strengthening communities’ identity and economic vitality with arts programming and local institutions.

Aging shopping malls—many burdened with high vacancy rates or even abandoned—are being transformed into vibrant, mixed-use destinations that are connected to their surrounding communities. At the 2016 ULI Fall Meeting, “the mall of the future” was explored by a panel of design, development, and placemaking experts.

For midsized U.S. cities to compete successfully in the 21st-century global marketplace, it is crucial for governments to think beyond the tired strategy of luring away employers from other locales. Instead, city officials need to focus on land use and placemaking as ways to attract talent, generate new business opportunities, and consolidate economic and community development to enhance their brands, according to speakers at ULI’s 2016 Fall Meeting in Dallas.

A Gathering Place for Tulsa, under construction along the eastern bank of the Arkansas River two miles (3.2 km) south of downtown, is one of the biggest greenway projects under development from scratch in the United States.

A decade ago, the 2200 block of Grays Ferry Avenue, the one-third of a triangular intersection girding an inoperative 19th-century fountain, was mostly prized for the handful of parking spaces it offered. Today, the street is closed to vehicular traffic and festooned with planters, painted asphalt, café tables, and a bike-sharing station.

Designing more human-centered communities requires “moving beyond intentions of what we hope to create to finding ways to actually engage with people [in order] to get there,” said designer and architect Liz Ogbu, speaking at ULI’s Housing Opportunity Conference in Minneapolis last week.

In an Urban Land opinion piece, Mariela Alfonzo, founder of State of Place, argues for the economic development potential for walkability in places like Houston.

Vibrant parks can serve as a catalyst for economic regeneration of urban areas. Amanda Burden, a commissioner with the Department of City Planning in New York City and previous recipient of ULI’s J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, moderated a session with leading thinkers in park development across the country. Read about the successful efforts in New York, Detroit and Houston and how these parks have spurred development.