PERIPHERAL BUSINESS DISTRICTS The Peripheral Business District (PBD) is an urban type that has been generated by the relocation of major corporate entities to suburban interchanges. While similar to Edge Cities, PBD’s do not require residential development, and in most cases retain only daytime populations. Most PBD’s are referred to as “technology” or “business” corridors, where the centralization of the interstate freeway is crucial to district growth. As many corporations begin migrating back to city centers, the banal existence of most PBD’s threatens their economic and physical outlook.
The Crossroads Peripheral Business District is a speculative proposal that seeks to confront the future challenges for PBD’s. Sited in northern New Jersey, the district is located due to its beneficial infrastructural connections between freeways, commuter rail, and freight rail. While typical PBD’s develop according to fluctuations in suburban zoning, the Crossroads defines its urban growth boundary (UGB) from district inception. The process of infill has been developed according to generational scripts that account for automotive velocity from freeway off ramps, visual perceptions from within the district, and the distribution of morphological building masses. These morphological “types” seek to create a district with a perception of its own cultural identity, a first-step for the production of PBD’s that could use the benefits of interchanges to offer a new model for the acceleration of suburban density. 36
+/ Big Beaver PBD / Troy, Detroit, MI
+/ Crossroads Site / Mahwah, NJ