The new activity is propitious for mixed use in several ways. Mixed use is a return to a historical form of urbanism and points to the revival of old building types like the Agora and Galeria. Different functions in one building allow for a richer, more complex formal expression. Mixed use frequently requires the integration of a new project in already developed areas, sometimes with adaptive reuse of exiting buildings. Universities have been fertile ground for experimentation in urban forms and mixtures of uses.
Students tend to be open to new kinds of living arrangements.
It is not surprising then that several of the most forward-looking mixed use projects have been built in university settings. The first mixed use housing scheme was Sert's Peabody Terrace at Harvard. Donlyn Lyndon's Pembroke dormitories used the urban vernacular of walk-up apartments over shops, reinforcing the existing streets.