The adaptation of existing, twentieth-century buildings to present-day requirements is gaining importance as a planning task. This applies in particular to suburbia, which is dominated by single-family detached houses and industrial areas, and whose urban qualities are scarcely compatible with the requirements typical of city centers.

In this book, planners and urban researchers present existing and possible future approaches for the restructuring of suburbia in the USA and Germany. This involves a wide variety of tasks, such as increasing energy efficiency, retrospective densification, the creation of new usage mixes, and the restructuring of public space. In the USA, according to the concept of “suburban refitting”, many measures for upgrading suburbia are already being implemented. These strategies can also serve as a model for improving suburban structures in Germany, albeit in an adapted form.