Back to the Future/Southlake Town Square

Southlake, TX

I listened to your story on One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest piece, and was struck by how the movie differed from the original book, and it reminded me of a similar artistic influence between American Icons, this time between a movie and newly created downtown.

The town leaders of Southlake saw their town expanding exponentially. Many large multi-national developers came promising a commercial center at the core land, which was just a horse farm, and were dismissed by the town’s leaders, who did not want the same cookie-cutter shopping mall.
A young ambitious developer followed with an alternate vision to that presented by the big-time developers. An old time Texas town square, just like that from the old-timey scenes from Back To the Future. That town square from the 50’s in the Spielberg movie became the shared vision, that developed the buy-in, even from hard-nosed transportation engineers and fire chiefs.

Delivering the town square, which is now beloved and has won numerous awards, etc., was a huge challenge. Suburban zoning and development rules are really terrible, and work against the creation of walkable destinations, with their focus on vehicular criterion. At great development risk, we created an authentic downtown without any public transportation, and accommodating suburban parking requirements, allowing residents to “park-once” and enjoy the amenities of their downtown.

Back to the Future is cultural criticism wrapped up in a wrapper of family entertainment. From the destruction of the “Twin Pines” for the future “Twin Pines Mall” to the isolation of American subdivisions, its influences are broad. The citizen leaders of Southlake took its lessons to heart, and have a real downtown to show for it.

One of many videos attached.

Brian