Don't try to compete with the suburbs.

This is a dead mall in downtown Buffalo, New York. One day before I took these pictures Andres Duany insisted that cities should never try to compete with the suburbs because the city will always lose. In other words, the correct response to "competition" from the suburbs is not to become more suburban. The response should instead be to double down on the urban character of the city. And now that we are witnessing the death of malls in even the suburbs we should especially avoid trying to mimic the suburban shopping experience. (That empty food court in the last photo is the most depressing image.)

Charming for now.

This is the southern edge of the City of Ontario, California en route to Eastvale. This is a very abrupt transition from town to country (a single family subdivision is right across the street), but this will be developed as soon as the economy allows. It's charming for now.