With the popularity of walkable urban environments on the rise, more developers are turning to mixed-use projects, usually bringing together some combination of office, housing, and shops, sometimes with a hotel or community-serving uses. The following 10 mixed-use projects—all built during the past five years—help activate the public realm by weaving in open space, pedestrian and transit connections, or ground-floor retail and dining options. They include two projects that incorporate schools, two that involved converting buildings originally erected to support international sporting events, a shopping mall redeveloped to add a library and a hotel, and a transit-oriented development that provides affordable housing and a multicultural community center.

4. East Harlem Center for Living and Learning
New York, New York

In a dense neighborhood where nearly 60 percent of young people do not complete high school, on a site that once held a parking lot and a trash compactor, a local public/private partnership has given a home to a public charter school dedicated to inner-city youth, affordable housing, office and community space, and a renovated public park. Created by the New York City Housing Authority, local developers Jonathan Rose Companies and Civic Builders, and local nonprofit organizations Harlem RBI and DREAM Charter School, the facility has a four-story school for 450 kindergarten through eighth-grade students, offices for nonprofits, and 89 affordable housing units.

Completed in 2015 and designed by the local office of Perkins Eastman, the building has extensive glazing at the ground floor to reveal the activity within. A terrace atop the third floor provides additional outdoor space for students; apartment residents have their own terrace. The project improved the adjacent Blake Hobbs public park with new plantings, seating, and play areas.