Downtown Redevelopment Strategies in the United States: An End-of-the-Century Assessment

The downtowns of American cities present a dilemma. Civic and business leaders view downtown as the key but troubled ingredient of the overall metropolitan fabric. Downtowns are seen as definitive of overall city identity, so cities of all sizes and in all regions are committed to successful downtown redevelopment. Yet, despite three decades of continuous redevelopment policies and projects, most American downtowns still have serious economic problems and are perceived, particularly by suburbanites, as inconvenient, obsolete, and even dangerous places. Hence some critics would declare that downtown redevelopment policies have failed. Others, however, believe that redevelopment has contributed to shaping a new downtown, one with a more specialized role in the metropolitan region. This Longer View describes and evaluates contemporary policy on downtown redevelopment in the United States, in particular seven widely-used strategies of planning and design: pedestrianization, indoor shopping centers, historic preservation, waterfront development, office development, special activity generators, and transportation enhancement.