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There are plenty of extremely bustling and vibrant Downtowns in this country as well:
Manhattan
Chicago
San Francisco
Philadelphia
Boston
DC
Seattle
just to name a few
I can agree with you on that front. However, how many other cities not mentioned say from populations of 50,000 upwards to 1,000,000+ really lack any vibrancy within much of the downtown and urban core. For example, I was in Syracuse last month and the only happening place downtown was the hotel restaurant. There was a gorgeous park that no one was using, and mind you it was about 60 degrees and sunny in upstate New York. I'm afraid the exception seems to be more prevalent than the rule for the majority of small, medium, and large cities.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by santafe400
I can agree with you on that front. However, how many other cities not mentioned say from populations of 50,000 upwards to 1,000,000+ really lack any vibrancy within much of the downtown and urban core. For example, I was in Syracuse last month and the only happening place downtown was the hotel restaurant. There was a gorgeous park that no one was using, and mind you it was about 60 degrees and sunny in upstate New York. I'm afraid the exception seems to be more prevalent than the rule for the majority of small, medium, and large cities.
Yeah, there are a lot of medium sized cities similar to Syracuse that seem to be fairly dead. Most major cities have seen gentrification in variable degrees, and there are a decent amount of small cities like Santa Fe or Portland, Maine that have a good level of downtown vibrancy. But it seems several medium sized cities like Syracuse as you mentioned have weak downtowns with good bones but no much vibrancy or activity such as....
These cities have their bright pockets for about a few blocks, but after about 45 minutes of wondering around its just kind of like ...meh. For the most part given their size and history one would expect a lot more going on in these cities. Especially somewhere like Richmond where the historic feel is very palpable, but it only really has just a few charming blocks abutting some derelict areas among the historic buildings and not very much activity going on. Raleigh's downtown is clean and given the prosperity and abundance of educational capital it has, I expected a lot more from it, but it just feels very workaday and basic to me. One of the most vibrant downtown cores I've seen in a medium sized city is Providence.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 11-29-2014 at 12:10 PM..
I can agree with you on that front. However, how many other cities not mentioned say from populations of 50,000 upwards to 1,000,000+ really lack any vibrancy within much of the downtown and urban core. For example, I was in Syracuse last month and the only happening place downtown was the hotel restaurant. There was a gorgeous park that no one was using, and mind you it was about 60 degrees and sunny in upstate New York. I'm afraid the exception seems to be more prevalent than the rule for the majority of small, medium, and large cities.
I can agree with you on that front. However, how many other cities not mentioned say from populations of 50,000 upwards to 1,000,000+ really lack any vibrancy within much of the downtown and urban core. For example, I was in Syracuse last month and the only happening place downtown was the hotel restaurant. There was a gorgeous park that no one was using, and mind you it was about 60 degrees and sunny in upstate New York. I'm afraid the exception seems to be more prevalent than the rule for the majority of small, medium, and large cities.
There are plenty of extremely bustling and vibrant Downtowns in this country as well:
Manhattan
Chicago
San Francisco
Philadelphia
Boston
DC
Seattle
just to name a few
Yeah, but that's basically it. I would also add New Orleans and Portland.
Pretty much every other U.S. downtown is a underperformer relative to size. Visit Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, LA, Detroit, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Kansas City, etc. Do you think these cities have strong downtowns relative to size?
Also, why do people put "Manhattan" for NYC? They don't know that Manhattan is a borough in NYC? NYC has a central business district; Manhattan basically is a central business district.
Medium sized cities lost their shopping visitors to malls and suburban strip developments. Crime and middle class flight further discouraged much investment or attention to the center city area.
Yeah, this is pretty much it. Add disastrous urban renewal projects, generally misguided planning, cheap gas, and U.S. preferences for single family homes with yards.
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 15 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
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A lot of posters blame the suburbs/sprawl and feel that ending sprawl will magically make the city centers vibrant again. I have to disagree the problem is business 101, supply and demand not fair competition. Are these posters saying I should be tied to a central business location the way it was 50 years ago? Do I not have a right to live and shop as I choose?
City centers need a few things for success, first is there adequate people living in the city to support businesses without this all the fancy redo's will do nothing. Second they need stores that people need to live such as a supermarket, cleaners etc. not 20 cutesy ethnic gift shops and finally they need to provide these services at a fair price because people will get in there cars and drive 10 miles to get the goods and services cheaper, that's business 101.
I like the word sprawl that is so frequently used on these boards especially when describing southern cities. What is the difference if you drive 10 miles and remain within the same town/city or you drive the same 10 miles and pass through 3 or 4 different towns/cities you still drove 10 miles......
There are plenty of extremely bustling and vibrant Downtowns in this country as well:
Manhattan
Chicago
San Francisco
Philadelphia
Boston
DC
Seattle
just to name a few
Actually, the proper downtowns in a lot of these, aren't all that bustling and vibrant. There are some VERY bustling and vibrant shopping/restaurant/nightlife districts in these cities, but they are not the same as the downtown.
Downtown DC for example, is dead on the nights/weekends. A lot of establishments and stores aren't even open on the weekend. You see the same thing to a lesser extent in Boston and even downtown NYC (Lower Manhattan, not midtown). Those areas are structured around the M-F 9-5 workforce, not the pleasure crowd.
The downtowns of many American cities were forcibly depopulated by 1950s era redevelopment, which, after 1954, did not require replacement of existing housing in the same neighborhood, and highway construction. In many cases this depopulation was intended to remove undesirable nonwhite and poor populations that resulted in redlining of those neighborhoods--the only way to remove redlining in the 1950s-60s was removing the people. Denuded of their population, downtowns fell dark after 5 PM except those who had nowhere else to go, or those who preyed on late-night visitors. This was also facilitated by social engineering efforts that taught urban planners of the mid-20th century that combining uses within the same neighborhood was dangerous and to be avoided at all costs--people must live in one place, work in another, shop in yet another, and at no point can these zones intersect. Traffic engineers applied their own social engineering to city streets--a safe street was one where cars could move as fast as possible without being anywhere a pedestrian might walk, so sidewalks narrowed and auto lanes widened.
Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
2,535 posts, read 3,277,684 times
Reputation: 1483
Quote:
Originally Posted by NOLA101
Yeah, this is pretty much it. Add disastrous urban renewal projects, generally misguided planning, cheap gas, and U.S. preferences for single family homes with yards.
Oh NOLA... what would want us to have instead? Also it's called Gentrification?? When aspects of cities that saw decline.... begin to have revitalization. Whether a downtown or neighborhood. It is PRIVATE INVESTMENT THAT PROMOTES THISJ PROCESS? it is a renewal and restoration of vibrancy.
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