The new realism: Redefining mixed-use across the Asia-Pacific

The predictable logic of the successful mixed-use city block – offices on top, shops on the ground – is no longer. A new realism is redefining how the Asia-Pacific builds for an uncertain future. Download the report.

For decades, the blueprint for a successful mixed-use precinct followed a predictable logic: a gleaming office tower positioned atop a bustling podium of shops and restaurants. It was a ​‘big bang’ approach to urbanism — a high-stakes bet that if you built a grand, fixed future, the city would eventually grow to meet it.

That logic is now fracturing. In major markets from Sydney to Shanghai, a volatile cocktail of high interest rates, post-pandemic shifts, and the rapid onset of AI-driven corporate downsizing has upended the old reliance on a stable urban future.

THE GREAT MISMATCH

Our latest research reveals a fundamental mismatch between the ambitious city-scale dreams of governments and the cautious, current realities of developers. The era of the ​‘default mix’ has ended, replaced by what we call the new realism. The most resilient projects today no longer rely on a singular, static vision. Instead, the future belongs to diverse, high-performing systems designed to absorb risk and attract capital from day one.

“In a city that’s reached its natural boundaries, the only direction is up. Mixed-use stops being a ​‘nice-to-have’ and becomes the only way to make a site worth building on.”

— Policy / advocacy specialist, Australia 

THREE PATHS THROUGH UNCERTAINTY 

Our white paper identifies three distinct paths for navigating this uncertainty:

• The neighbourhood ecosystem: Shifting focus toward analogue essentials — services like healthcare, childcare, and vocational learning — that require a physical presence. These anchors create a reliable pulse of activity immune to digital disruption and the rise of AI.
• The civic-commercial hybrid: Stabilising projects through public anchors and a shared, long-term responsibility between the private sector and government.
• The ready-made pivot: Treating flexibility as spatial insurance. By integrating high-spec infrastructure and generous floor heights into the initial brief, developers buy the option to evolve rather than facing the prohibitive costs of a future retrofit.

Success in this new era is not about acting on every approach at once, but about selecting the specific logic that aligns with a project’s unique risk profile.

For a copy of the full report, The New Realism, register below to access now.