Urban Architecture in Distress in Southern Nevada

"The Party is over" - a recent Economist article declared about the current state of affairs in Las Vegas. Even casual observers notice a tangible malaise about Sin City that was not there a mere 5 years ago. Since the recession hit in 2008, Southern Nevada has been hit particularly hard, and Las vegas has been trying to reinvent itself again. There is no end in sight to the present crisis with critical voices arguing the Valley's problems may be existential rather than just cyclical, and radical rethinking would be needed to redirect Las Vegas towards a better future. 

For those of us who love the Desert Southwest and have called Southern Nevada home at some point, the current dilemma is heart-wrenching but certainly was not unexpected. For that reason, Euroquest Sidetracks would like to present Sidetracks of a different kind this week by taking a closer look at those parts of the city in crisis - away from the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas Boulevard ("The Strip") and towards the American Dream in shatters. The notion of presenting a travel article on "distressed urban architecture" may not sit easily with the idea of tourism in general, but neither does a visit to Auschwitz or Chernobyl. Yet if enriching travel experiences are defined by broadening horizons, transforming consciousness and challening the status quo, then juxtaposing Las Vegas' previous boom with the valley's current crisis may lead to new insights, and possibly urban design solutions for the future.

Between 1995 and 2005, Las Vegas ranked among the fastest-growing cities in America, in some years adding up to 40 000 residents, lured by the prospect of lower housing prices and moderate taxation compared to elsewhere in the U.S. Particularly Southern Californians moved by the thousands in search for higher quality of life, less traffic and more affordable housing. The population increase started straining Southern Nevada's resources, particularly water, pumped from artificial Lake Mead, which in turn is fed by the Colorado River, over which several states including California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada are arguing for water rights. In addition, suburban sprawl took off with no regard for sustainable urban planning adding entire neighborhoods in sometimes only a few months. Jobs in the service industry were plentiful, as casinos opened up and required work force, which in turn fueled all other economic sectors including construction, retail, health care and related services. Las Vegas became the reversal of New York's slogan: "If you can't make it in Las Vegas, you can't make it anywhere". The city symbolized "easy money", pioneer spirit and the American Way of Life. As such, it was a place of hope for so many too, as it offered a second chance to many - a new lease on life.

As the city's boom unfolded, a subtle yet noticeable development took place, which directly ran counter to the very creativity and vitality the city purported to symbolize, i.e., uncontrolled suburban sprawl and over-development. Las Vegas grew bigger, but did not grow up. The growth consisted primarily in suburban residential housing, strip malls, neighborhood casinos and car dealerships, few of which the city really needed to "grow up" and mature. Critics and environmentalists were ignored - too tempting were the prospects of "easy money" for the developers and real estate agents. Even in the last years of the boom, entire new residential neighborhoods were developed, including Mountain's Edge in the Southwest of the Las Vegas Valley, many of which have now fallen on hard times due to the crisis. As the recession hit in 2008, the construction boom came to a screeching halt, leaving many developments half-finished and parts of the Valley resembling a ghost town. Retail space in particular, was subject to dire misjudgement by developers, leaving brand-new strip malls at times in their entirity underoccupied or vacant. Any drive through the Southwest valley would yield similar impressions of such overdevelopment and misjudgement.

Since the recession started and signs of economic slowdown reached Southern Nevada, matters have turned increasingly against Sin city threatening the very philosophy that Las Vegas is built upon. At present, unemployment stands at almost 20 percent and up to 50000 residents are moving away per annum. Almost every second home is under foreclosure, the highest rate of any large city in America. With locals increasingly residing in further-afield suburban areas, the more central infrastructure created in the 1980s and 90s is particularly hard hit. Nowhere can this be felt more tangibly than in Las Vegas' East side and Henderson, Nevada. Once the boom town of the 1990s, Henderson has become a shadow of its former suburban glory. 

A drive along Russell Road on the border between Las vegas and Henderson aptly illustrates the unprecedented scale of urban distress and the city's current predicament. From the vacant strip mall near Tropicana and McCloud on Las Vegas' East Side to the "Green Valley Town Square" at Green Valley Parkway and Sunset, the plight could not be more tangible. The latter once was the show-off project of 1990s suburban design featuring a square with fountains surrounded by restaurants, a movie theater complex and the Barley's Brewery Casino. Nowadays only the Brewery is struggling to stay open - all other venues shut down. 

Yet no better example of Las Vegas' current woes than the retail complex at Russell & Pecos, where VON's grocery store closed 18 months ago and most other businesses followed suit. Left are a few fast food restaurants struggling to stay open along with a quiet Starbucks. When I asked one of the employees how long they may still be open, she just sighed and said: "I remember when all of this was nothing but desert, and for all that I care, it may soon turn into desert once again."