What's Wrong With Worcester? A Story of Stalled Revitalization
"In many ways, Worcester has the ingredients to prosper: It is the second-largest city in New England and home to 10 colleges and universities, including University of Massachusetts Medical School, College of the Holy Cross, and Clark University. It has respected cultural institutions, including an art museum with an impressive, encyclopedic collection amassed during Worcester’s industrial heyday in the early 20th century; diverse industries, like medical, insurance, and biotech; and commuter trains to Boston," writes Lonnie Shekhtman.
"But few cite the downtown area as one of the attractions. One reason could be the gap between the city’s vision of pedestrian-friendly streetscapes and a vibrant commercial sector, and developers’ goals to attract corporate tenants to realize a return on their investments."
In that gap sits the stalled CitySquare project, a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of focusing on big developments.
Topics
- Scooter Media Brief: Safety, Security, and Business Models Raise Concerns
- Report: No City or State in the U.S. Has Enough Housing for Low-Income Residents
- The New New Protected Bike Lane
- Review: The Hudson Yards Mega-Development, Open to the Public Today
- 3D Printing Affordable Housing at Scale
- Editorial: Raise Height Limits to San Jose's Proper Stature
- It Takes a Fatality to Remove On-Street Parking
- Five Years of 100 Resilient Cities
- Where Gas Taxes Only Serve the Needs of More Sprawl
- Kids Still Aren't Walking to School
- 'Urban Luxury' Housing Skyrockets in Texas and Beyond
- The Battle for Public Space: Business Owners vs. Homeless Residents
- Google Doodle Commemorates Those Bumps on the Edge of the Transit Platform
- Express Bus Service Coming to the Suburbs South of Seattle
- On-Street Parking a Sticking Point for Cincinnati's Road Diet Plan
- Bus Transit Used to Be Profitable on the Las Vegas Strip
- Study: Density Can Impede Growth
- Climate Resilience Plan Would Extend Manhattan
- Deadly Flooding Follows Bomb Cyclone in the Midwest
- Many Norms, Few Plans: Urban Rubble Clearance in the Cities of the Global South
