In 1987, Winston-Salem's city council was debating if they should allow a big box store to build near their largest mall. They actually talked about sprawl and what would happen, if this was allowed. It passed by 1 vote and what they feared proved to be true.
Big boxes and chains build corporate designed buildings, designed for their store, with cheap materials. When these buildings become outdated, they move to another street and repeat this process with each upgrade. These abandoned or declining streets are seen throughout the south.
As Winston-Salem watched this starting to happen at Peters Creek Parkway, they decided to actually do something about it! They created a planning document that includes the inner suburbs, with the help of citizens, that guides where growth will occur, how it will look, and preserves natural areas and farmland. It is enforced, even if it costs the city, suburbs, or county some growth and jobs! I've seen buildings denied, because an area is residential or farmland or it didn't conform! This document is updated every 10 years, to keep it current. It was last updated two or three years ago and that update won a 2014 American Planning Association (APA) Award! It was the 2014 Daniel Burnham Comprehensive Plan Award, for those who want to know. "This award recognizes a comprehensive plan that advances the science and art of planning."
Their advertising campaign, to encourage people to get involved, also won an award. For those who want to know, it was the American Planning Association 2013 National Planning Achievement Award for Public Outreach.
So what happens when you do something like this? It's very difficult to encourage small towns and rural areas to go along with it. It helps if they try to save money by using the city's planning department though.
It's interesting to see retail developers buying existing retail buildings and renovating them or demolishing them and reusing the site. You can only build retail structures in areas designated for them, which encourages reusing the sites over and over, instead of abandonment. A number of farmers have taken advantage of selling development rights to their farm, while continuing to farm the land, as part of a county farmland preservation program. Winston-Salem and its inner suburbs have planned how much growth they will have over the next two decades and everyone worked together to plan exactly where it should go and also included plans for a streetcar and a future light rail system. Many proposals will include an LRT station. I've seen one mixed-use proposal with space set-aside for a bus/LRT transfer station included for the future!