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I think it's safe to say that were in the "post covid" era now. Our downtowns suffered dramatically, urban cores lost people, businesses and have been slow with return to office, remote work dynamics and so on. Indicators on recovery are a bit spotty, using cellphone data is not accurate, downtown boundaries are often changed or tampered with in studies, so it makes it harder to see which downtown actually improved using proper indicators.
After three years, what would your rank be for Canadian and U.S downtowns? Based off on
- Neighbourhoods within downtown boundaries
- Restaurant scene & diversity
- Nightlife
- Culture
- Urban Planning
- Transport/Green space
- Pre/Post Covid comparisons & recovery (either return to office, pedestrian activity, retail, etc..)
Bonus: Future projects, developments and what is your city doing to fast track projects or bring back investments to downtown areas?
Are the top 10's the same? Have there been changes in your rankings and observations? And how much longer do you think it will take for most downtowns to fully recover?
Top 10 US/Canadian downtowns is in really boring because the only real debate in America is 8/9/10 who. Slings at the bottom where there are like a dozen options
With Canada in the Mix it’s just really obviously
Top 10 US/Canadian downtowns is in really boring because the only real debate in America is 8/9/10 who. Slings at the bottom where there are like a dozen options
With Canada in the Mix it’s just really obviously
I think everyone will have an opinion on which one gets cut. To me, it’s probably either Seattle or Vancouver.
As hard as San Francisco has gotten hit, it’s still one of the most dynamic, urban, sought after cities in North America.
I'd say DC would be the one to cut, if we're talking strictly about official "Downtown DC" and not including Foggy Bottom, Chinatown, the National Mall, etc. There's just really not much there.
Agree with Seattle (esp. if not including Pioneer Square, Belltown, etc.) and Vancouver being near the bottom of the list. I live in the Seattle area and I rarely go to downtown proper.
I haven't been to Miami but I'm surprised it doesn't make it onto a top 10.
I put DTLA above Seattle pre-pandemic and I think that the gap is widening post-pandemic.
Downtown Seattle has more hotel rooms, a higher residential population density, more transit usage, and two waterfronts. It has way fewer freeways. Buildings have way less parking.
It's worth debating but I'll go with Seattle by a good margin. It's not changing...Seattle has more housing construction.
I'm using "greater" downtowns btw, not just the core office districts.
Downtown Seattle has more hotel rooms, a higher residential population density, more transit usage, and two waterfronts. It has way fewer freeways. Buildings have way less parking.
It's worth debating but I'll go with Seattle by a good margin. It's not changing...Seattle has more housing construction.
I'm using "greater" downtowns btw, not just the core office districts.
All of that sounds accurate (not sure about hotels but believable) and is fair to use but in the end and imo LA's massive size and DTLA being a local destination more than compensates. DTLA in my experience just has much more to do than DT Seattle. By a lot.
Based on the criteria stated:
Neighbourhoods within downtown boundaries - LA
Restaurant scene & diversity - LA by a lot
Nightlife - LA by a lot
Culture - LA
Urban Planning - Seattle by a lot
Transport/Green space - LA slightly or tossup. Seattle wins in transit usage percentage but LA wins for total users and infrastructure
Pre/Post Covid comparisons & recovery (either return to office, pedestrian activity, retail, etc..) - LA. Return to office is low but DTLA relies less on office workers as the office space is less integrated into downtown. Overall more is open now than pre-pandemic.
Bonus: Future projects, developments and what is your city doing to fast track projects or bring back investments to downtown areas? LA as DTLA was just rezoned to allow significantly more density and zero parking by right.
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