Downtowns

What Is Christmas Without the Department Store?

Robert David Sullivan writes that the Main Street America department store is a holiday tradition, a grand public crossroads for celebrating the season.

12 December 2011 - 8:00am

Boston Globe

'Burbs Don't "Support the Vision" for Tech Company

Lured by state and potentially city incentives, one high-tech headquarters is ditching its current suburban location for a spot in downtown Kansas City. Is a resurgence afoot? Kevin Collison reports.

17 November 2011 - 6:00am

The Kansas City Star

Building a Realistic Transit System

Tallahassee, Florida planners came to a realization - while their transit system was set up to efficiently get commuters downtown, only 14% of them actually worked downtown. So they actually changed where the buses go.

23 September 2011 - 8:00am

Grist

Analyst Says Economic Benefit of L.A. Stadium Would Be Minimal

As the city of Los Angeles considers a plan to allow construction of a football stadium downtown, some have called into question the economic projections of developers.

1 September 2011 - 10:00am

Los Angeles Times

A People-Friendly Plaza for D.C.

A new public plaza is being built in Washington D.C., and this rundown from The Dirt highlights its people-focused design.

7 May 2011 - 5:00am

THE DIRT

Creating a Network of Open Spaces

The city of Baltimore has a new open space plan it thinks will lead the city to future growth that is smarter, more vibrant, and better overall for its residents.

11 March 2011 - 9:00am

Project For Public Spaces

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1 comment

Forget The Automobile, More Streets for Pedestrians and Cyclists Coming to L.A.

Despite the city's heavy dependence on cars, a newly-approved project in Los Angeles will transform a Downtown street into a better experience for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit-riders.

18 February 2011 - 2:00pm

GOOD Magazine

Updating and Improving Philadelphia's Downtown Plazas

Three public plazas in the center of Philadelphia are set to see much-needed makeovers, and soon.

14 February 2011 - 6:00am

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Urban Park Commended for Revitalizing Detroit

The Urban Land Institute recently awarded Campus Martius Park in Detroit the 2010 Urban Open Space Award for helping to rejuvenate the historic city center.

11 February 2011 - 1:00pm

UrbanLand

The Rise of Mid-Sized Cities

The Boston Globe discovers that midsize towns across Massachusetts are ditching the mall and revitalizing their downtowns.

25 January 2011 - 11:00am

The Boston Globe

Census Proves That Downtowns Are Coming Back

Earlier this week, the new American Community Survey data was released. Daniel Nairn writes that the new data show "a reversal of the 20th century story of urban decline."

18 December 2010 - 1:00pm

SustainableCitiesCollective

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The Office Goes Urban

Motivated by factors such as municipal incentive packages and the changing preferences of younger workers, many companies are relocating to central business districts, reversing a post-war trend that based the American workplace in the suburbs.

14 December 2010 - 2:00pm

The Wall Street Journal

Downtown Rebirth Through Two-Way Streets

The city of Richmond, Virginia, is hoping to undo years of downtown driving confusion and congestion by converting its web of one-way streets into two-way streets.

23 August 2010 - 12:00pm

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Downtown Improvement District Lives Up To Name

This column from MinnPost praises the year-old Downtown Improvement District in Minneapolis for helping to revive the city's downtown core and give people a reason to walk.

12 August 2010 - 9:00am

MinnPost

Revitalizing Downtown in Small and Mid-Sized Cities

Small and mid-sized cities in Canada are taking innovative steps to revitalize their downtowns, and lure businesses and entrepreneurs back.

4 August 2010 - 9:00am

The Globe and Mail

The Design Behind St. Louis' Downtown Park

Landscape Architecture Magazine looks at the design behind the new downtown art park in St. Louis and calls it a "hybrid oasis" in the city.

15 April 2010 - 8:00am

Landscape Architecture

Salt Lake Suburb Pins Hopes On Downtown Revival

South Salt Lake is seeking to revive itself economically by creating a downtown entertainment district connected by a streetcar.

14 April 2010 - 8:00am

The Salt-Lake Tribune

Density Uber Alles

Is density a goal unto itself? John Parman argues that a 38-story building proposed for San Francisco has little to do with walkable urbanism, and continues "a sorry tradition of case-by-case rezoning."

16 March 2010 - 1:00pm

The Architect's Newspaper

The Taming of the Motorcar

"In the early days of his development, man realized that certain members of the animal kingdom could be made useful to him." So begins a rumination by architect Victor Gruen on the process of domestication and why we can't seem to domesticate the automobile.

15 March 2010 - 5:00am

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