Boyer is working on two walkable development projects in South Jordan, one in Draper and one in Sandy.

Williams said that while walkable main streets and city centers can fit well in urban areas, adaptations have to be made for the suburbs, where residents have been trained to drive everywhere.

In the suburbs, he said, the idea is to have a mix of pedestrian and auto traffic, somewhere where people can walk from dinner to recreation to a specialty shop to a public library — but with a parking lot close by.

"People are sort of missing the old main streets. But they are difficult and hard to protect," Rademan said. "We've been doing this for years and years."

Rademan has learned in those years that a walkable community must offer residents something they cannot get in a mall. Without a reason for being, many idealistic town centers fall flat, he said.

"You have to be careful about creating a space that's dead. You want a lot of action because it breeds more action," he said.

For Park City, the old-town feel is what sustained its walkable community because no strip mall can offer that atmosphere, Rademan said.

The city of Holladay is looking to Park City as a role model as it edges toward creating its own walkable community at 2300 East and Holladay Boulevard. The concept includes a town plaza surrounded by buildings with retail on the first floor and apartments above.

City manager Randy Fitts said the development will be geared toward small local shops and not warehouse retailers, much like in Park City. But Fitts said he is aware of the risk of investing only in speciality shops and is considering recruiting a chain grocery store as an anchor for the development.

"The last thing we want to have happen is closing signs going up in all the windows," he said. "We need to make sure the economics work and that there's going to be synergism to attract people here."