Can Small-City Downtowns Remain Viable?

A healthy downtown is an essential element of the prosperity of most non-suburban small cities (25,000 to 50,000 population). Unfortunately, the professional and scholarly literature has focused primarily on downtown development in large cities. Based on a national survey of 57 small American cities and case studies of Auburn, New York; Bangor, Maine; Carson City, Nevada; Texarkana, Texas/Arkansas; and Wausau, Wisconsin, this article explores the key problems confronting small-city downtowns and the revitalization strategies employed to try to overcome them. Significant differences between downtown development in small and large cities are presented throughout the article, as well as the importance of a sense of place.