Hopping On The Downtown Bandwagon

"Creating town centers to renovate slumping downtowns is hot among central Ohio suburbs. Some have them (think Westerville and Worthington), and some don't (think Upper Arlington and Whitehall).

Most of the latter wish they did.

Picture the 1950s downtown in Back to the Future. The town center is a nostalgic return to the architecture, function and vitality that small towns had before strip centers and malls on their outskirts sucked the life out of Downtown, USA.

It's a community's centerpiece, a gathering place that includes workplaces, shopping, dining and entertainment, said Hazel Morrow-Jones, associate dean in Ohio State University's College of Engineering and an expert in city planning."