The International Council of Shopping Centers can't say, at the moment, exactly how many "lifestyle centers" are being built in the United States or even how many already have been built. It seems the fashionable label is being slapped on all sorts of projects.

But confusion over semantics hasn't stopped development of the trendy replacement for traditional enclosed malls.

By fall 2008, Pittsburgh-area shoppers should be heading to new "lifestyle center" Settlers Ridge. In addition to retailers, the 600,000-square-foot open-air project off the Parkway West in Robinson is supposed to include a 16-screen Cinemark theater, restaurants, a specialty grocer and a bookstore.

Then there is SouthSide Works, an urban development along East Carson Street, and the town center clustered around the movie theater at the Waterfront in Homestead. Bakery Square in East Liberty also mixes retail with residential and office space. The Streets of Cranberry, a 110,000-square-foot project on Route 19 that has begun to see stores open, also gets that description.

Howard Biel, senior managing director of North Carolina-based Faison Enterprises, doesn't particularly like the term "lifestyle center" because he isn't sure it is descriptive. But he does think demand is strong for the kind of development Faison and joint venture partner CBL & Associates Properties Inc. of Tennessee are putting at Settlers Ridge in Robinson.

"I think people have kind of run the gamut of wanting to have a Musak environment that's enclosed," said Mr. Biel. That's not to say good malls can't do well, he said, but busy lifestyles include less time to wander around massive, enclosed centers.

The term "lifestyle center" is among the most overused in the industry right now, said Herky Pollock, executive vice president of real estate firm CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh. In his definition, such a place should include upscale retailers and specialty restaurants.

Whatever number the shopping council eventually comes up with, expect more of these projects. Retailers appreciate the energy that such developments concentrate in one spot, said Edward A. Shriver Jr., a principal in Downtown architectural firm S+rada. Consumers, meanwhile, like the convenience of going to the same place for dinner and a movie.