To call San Jose's Santana Row a shopping center is to miss the point.

At first glance, it looks like an expansive set on a large back lot of a major motion picture studio.

Look closer.

Built on the former urban/suburban outpost of the old Town & Country shopping center, constructed across the boulevard from one of the nation's most lucrative malls, the community mixes Mediterranean and commercial architecture with the street grid of a traditional downtown where balconies and terraces of homes overlook the main thoroughfare.

With more than 700,000 square feet of retail space (and growing), including Rodeo Drivesque boutiques, high-end retailers and restaurants as well as residential lofts, a boutique hotel, a multiplex cinema showing main stream and independent films, a farmers market, a chess players park and scores of seasonal events, "The Row" has given San Jose's high rollers something that the still redeveloping downtown couldn't -- a regional destination.

Like a Barcelona, Spain-type Las Ramblas in the middle of Silicon Valley, Santana Row is a place to go, to shop, to eat, to sip some Joe, to hang out, to catch a flick, to people watch, to even call home and it was all built from the ground up.

Making places like Santana Row work in the shadow of a downtown redevelopment and next door to an existing major retail community isn't easy, says the Urban Land Institute but with the right ingredients, such destinations can become little pieces of heaven on Earth -- or at least as close as you can get to heaven in the corporeal real estate world.

"Creating authentic places with a mix of uses that provide an identity and a sense of community is difficult, complex and requires a variety of approaches," reports the ULI about its recent Place Making Conference in Houston, TX.

"Place Making," say the experts who make them, is about creating life-size, community-level destinations people will regularly visit because they are drawn by a host of elements, among them architecture that conveys the impression of evolution over time, streets that make sense and public spaces that help roll back sprawl.

There is no one formula, but the ingredients, say the experts, must include a level of details and variety to rebuild the eroded sense of community caused by suburban expansion.

"Today, 74 percent of rural counties are growing at their fastest rate in 20 years," said Joel E. Embry, president, Home Town Neighborhoods, Inc., in Fernandina Beach, Florida. This sprawl increases the desire of people to reconnect to real places, Embry added.

Much of the demand for making old spaces new places is coming from those who remember what community once was. The 76 million Baby Boomers (born from 1946-1964) are changing their lifestyles as they reach age 55 and developers will rise or fall based on their ability to respond to their demands for community living, Embry said.

ULI member Brian R. Stebbins, chief executive officer, Cooper & Stebbins in Southlake, TX says there are a number of necessary elements for good place making.

They include:

• A comprehensive master plan that evolves over time to meet the changing needs of the community and its residents.

• Mixed-use. An environment that includes shops, restaurants, movie theaters, offices, hotels, residential, government and public spaces is an environment for all.

• Plans and designs that are sensitive to the geographical location, help make the place a good fit for the existing community.

• Pedestrian-friendly environments are essential in a world of higher energy prices and the yen to conserve.

• A variety of public meeting places makes the destination more than just a shopping center or retail outlet.

• A focus on night-time as well as day-time activities adds vibrancy, life and around-the-clock action acknowledged as essential to locations with a diverse population.

• An emphasis on architectural details gives buildings a sense of place and time, past, present and future.

• Public gatherings and traditions, like "Art in the Square," Independence Day celebrations, high school homecoming parades, holiday tree lightings with a visit from old St. Nick can be both educational and just plan old fun.

ULI also says a key element of place making is public transit, which can help unlock the development potential of a location by moving people about the made place, according to Charles C. Bohl, director, Knight Program in Community Building, University of Miami School of Architecture in Coral Gables, Florida.

Successful transit is part of a larger community network. New York City, for example, is perhaps the most vibrant community, thanks in part, to its well-designed public transit system.

"The aging population is changing the profile of communities but that's not the only demographic," said Paul F. Morris, vice president, PB PlaceMaking in Washington, D.C.

"The success of communities is the diversity of age and uses," he added.