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Just wanted to add, there is nothing worse than a downtown with parking lots. If your downtown has more than 3 small parking lots than you are already dropped below 5 IMO.
Ah... but skyscrapers (which some people here are touting) create parking lots. Unless a city brings most of its workers in on buses and trains, they will drive. If they drive they have to park. If places of employment are concentrated within a few downtown blocks, they must be accompanied by enough parking capacity within walking distance of the office. This means parking garages or surface lots. A big city like Houston and a small city like Hartford both exhibit the pattern--a concentration of office and/or government buildings, and parking lots adjacent to the core. Planners have been trying to solve this problem since the '50s (see Victor Gruen's unbuilt plan for Fort Worth from the 1950s). Mass transit cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, San Franscisco, and others have different pressures on land outside the core so you don't see as many parking lots (e.g. established high-value residential areas), and/or their waterfronts constrain the land supply so that parking becomes uneconomical. Otherwise, the bigger the concentration of high-rise office buildings, the more the demand for parking within walking distance of the office. In Hartford in, say, 1950, only one skyscraper (Travelers) but solid buildout in and around the downtown, full of all kinds of activity including department stores and many other retailers, small manufacturers, repair shops, movie theaters, and so on. Cut to 2009-- Lots of 20+ story office buildings in the core, expressways surrounding the core (which replaced many blocks of low-rise businesses and residences), and extensive parking lots ajacent to the expressways. The retail stores are gone, also the movies, repair shops, and all the other little businesses that once occupied downtown buildings. Instead you have skyscrapers, expressways, and parking lots.
Downtown Sioux Falls, SD ... hmm... for a city its size (150,000) maybe 6/10
Falls Park, a sculpture walk with sculptures made by artists from all over the country, Washington Pavillion, many events during the summer make downtown worth visiting. Many small mom/pop type shops offer shopping outside of the chain stores. One thing that needs improvement is nightlife/entertainment. Downtown Sioux Falls
Downtown Youngstown is probably still only about a 4. It's still in the early stages of its comeback. There is still some blight that needs restored (preferably) or removed. (boo!) There are almost no options for living downtown, though that will be changing (a little) this year. There is some night life, but it's not like there's a giant party downtown every weekend. There is very little shopping. The architecture (IMO) is great though. Here's the pics:
Omaha - 4 maybe 5. Still lots of work to do. There is one touristy area that people here think is really cool. 8 square blocks don't make a vibrant downtown.
If you could go ahead and build a big umbrella over downtown, that would help tremendously. Thanks.
Will do.... while we are at it lets construct a mammoth air conditioner over Houston, a huge heater over Chicago, and a titanic air filter over Los Angeles.
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