island of retailing in a lake of parking”. It was an opportunity quickly seized by forward-thinking asset owners, with Australia boasting 1,630 suburban shopping centres, each covering a span of more than 1,000 square metres, by 2018, according to the SCCA. Sixty-three years later, the function and concept of suburban shopping centres has remained relatively unchanged, typically being stand-alone buildings comprised of supermarket and department store anchors, a food court or ‘dining precinct’ and a range of specialty shops – still surrounded “in a lake of parking”. And while there are fears we may be looking at the demise of these centres in the face of increased competition from online retailers, tightening economic conditions and changing consumer expectations, it is actually an opportunity we should embrace. When suburban shopping centres started to spring up across Australia, they were built on large parcels of land which were often the edges of major cities. With urban sprawl, the humble shopping centre has become the centre of thriving metropolitan areas, surrounded by acres of housing and already developed as transport hubs which are well connected to the wider region. With the infrastructure already in place in often densely-populated areas, these shopping centres are ripe for value uplift by adding other uses to the space.  This has the potential to create a nexus for the community which can include social housing, aged care, student accommodation, libraries, workplaces, community centres, higher education spaces and even logistics, creating a win-win scenario for shopping centre owners and the community. This model has already started to take shape in Australia with many Greenfield sites being developed as mixed use from the outset and some older centres being re-invented including Box Hill and The Glen in Melbourne and Sydney’s Rouse Hill. Oakridge in Canada is undergoing development to become a mixed-use precinct. Lessons from Canada There are also some great examples internationally we can learn from, including Vancouver’s central-city Oakridge Centre which will close at the end of September to allow for a CAD$6 billion redevelopment of the site to a mixed use centre which will house 6,000 residents. This was my local shopping centre growing up in Canada.  Since its construction in the 1950s, it has undergone incremental improvements, but the current development is a total transformation. “The new Oakridge will be a mixed-use, transit-oriented neighbourhood hub,” owners of the site said on their website. “The introduction of significantly more residential and office space, community amenities, a public park and arts programming will transform the site from an urban shopping centre into a vibrant, sustainable and diverse cultural community that will attract visitors from all over Metro Vancouver and beyond.” The redevelopment of the site will happen in two phases over six to eight years with completion set for 2026. It will include large green spaces, medical facilities, walkways and bikeways and rather than being one building, it will become a complex of different precincts with a larger geographical footprint. There is no doubt suburban shopping centres will transform to include new mixed uses into the future. The question now is, how can Australia be out in front of this and pioneering change? Having proven time and again that we have an appetite for change, Australians are ready to embrace this new way of living; we just need to deliver it to them.