Downtowns

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

May 7, 2011 - THE DIRT

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.

March 11, 2011 - Project For Public Spaces

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.

February 18, 2011 - GOOD Magazine

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

February 14, 2011 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

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.

February 11, 2011 - UrbanLand

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

January 25, 2011 - The Boston Globe

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."

December 18, 2010 - SustainableCitiesCollective

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.

December 14, 2010 - The Wall Street Journal

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.

August 23, 2010 - Richmond Times-Dispatch

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.

August 12, 2010 - MinnPost

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

August 4, 2010 - The Globe and Mail

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.

April 15, 2010 - Landscape Architecture

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

April 14, 2010 - The Salt-Lake Tribune

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."

March 16, 2010 - The Architect's Newspaper

March 15, 2010 - Victor Gruen

This video takes a futuristic tour of Tokyo -- through an editing technique that parallels the imagery to give the impression of weightless flight.

March 7, 2010 - nait5

This post from The Overhead Wire looks at the impact of parking lot sprawl in American downtowns -- and finds a striking resemblance between those downtowns and bomb-ravaged cities from World War Two.

February 22, 2010 - The Overhead Wire

Maine mill town asks citizens to record their memories at downtown "Heart Spots" as part of the master planning process.

October 18, 2009 - The Journal Tribune

Downtowns used to serve primarily as the economic and job hub of a community, but are shifting to be more focused on providing a entertainment center and civic forum.

August 4, 2009 - New Geography

I knew it was going to be a madhouse in downtown L.A. for Michael Jacksons memorial service, but I had to go see what it was like for the urban novelty of a huge swath of downtown closed off for thousands of fans and mourners.

July 7, 2009 - Nate Berg