The Design Downtown Denton plan takes aim at improving walkability and highlighting the city’s historic assets.
Denton, Texas has released its Design Downtown Denton plan, which outlines the city’s plans for revitalization over the next decade. Penny Kimble describes the plan in the Denton Record-Chronicle.
The city is prioritizing eight areas:
- Art, music and entertainment
- Bike and pedestrian mobility
- Culture
- Housing development
- Parks and public spaces
- Retail and commercial development
- Safety
- Traffic and transit
The plan recommends strategies that include better utilizing the streetscape, improving public spaces, and promoting nightlife and culture. “As a way to incorporate all of these recommendations and potential projects into one cohesive plan, the city does propose establishing a consistent brand downtown to help downtown imagery reflect the city’s identity.”
Proposed projects include adding bike and pedestrian infrastructure to make downtown streets more walkable, planting more trees to reduce heat and provide shade, renovating a historic park, and activating vacant lots of pocket parks.
Denton officials want to build on the city’s history and character, emphasizing “preserving historic resources, like local small businesses and landmarks through grants, tax credits and conservation districts.”
The document recommends the creation of a public improvement district to fund public projects and services.
The Simple Legislative Tool Transforming Vacant Downtowns
In California, Michigan and Georgia, an easy win is bringing dollars — and delight — back to city centers.
Sioux Falls Downtown Plan Targets Mobility, Safety, Community
The South Dakota city is taking public input on its proposal for improving transportation, job opportunities, and culture downtown.
Reorienting Business Districts for Walkability
Traditionally car-friendly Business Improvement Districts are turning to walkability and bike infrastructure to replace the 9-to-5 crowd and boost local economies.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association