Without this focus, the community's center is gone and, as Gertrude Stein once said, "There is no there there." As a result, it becomes difficult to get local support for projects and activities. As our society becomes more mobile, the need for a place with which to identify becomes increasingly important.
By contrast, many newer developments are unifunctional, devoted only to specialty retailing, quick-stop shopping, or single-size residential developments. As a result, these areas are much more vulnerable to changing times, and indeed will likely make them obsolete long before downtowns. Many suburban developments from the 1950s and 60s already have become abandoned, to be replaced by more recently built fringe developments.