"Hip" Downtowns

Everyone wants a hip downtown these days.

Downtown revitilization is getting to the point where shopping mall construction was 20 years ago: if your town didn't have a major shopping mall, well sir, you must live in yokel-ville U.S.A., and you'd better get busy building a 10-square-block big box structure full of J.C. Penny's, Taco Bells, and Foot Lockers.

This may surprise many of you who know me as a major fan of lively, pedestrian-friendly downtowns. Let me assure you: I still am. I just hate bandwagons, and "downtown revitilization" is starting to look suspiciously like a bandwagon issue. Cities all over the country, big and small, really are making drastic changes to their city centers: restoring historic buildings, constructing residential space like apartments and condos, and forming downtown 'arts districts.'

I like all of this. I think it is a positive development. But again, the devil is in the details.

Cities really need to think: who do we want to live, work and play downtown? 24 year old hipsters? Retiring baby-boomers? Young families with children?

Most places look to lure the first two groups, not the last. I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Ideally, you would want to attract all three, with an emphasis on making the area amenable to young families.

New Urbanism is catching on. Denver is planning to build 70 - yes, 70 - New Urban-style suburbs in the metro area in the next 10-20 years. These will look a bit like current (and extremely popular) developments Stapleton and Lowry. They are pedestrian-friendly, kid-friendly, mixed-use developments, and they are nowhere near downtown Denver.

As I noted a post or two ago, many "micropolitan" cities across the Inter-Mountain West and Great Plains are picking up steam. South Dakota Public Radio recently had a two part series on downtown developments in Rapid City and Sioux Falls:

"Rapid Downtown Building Plans" and "Uptown at Falls Park"