A Word from Eric Miller for June, 2002

Recipe for a Healthy Downtown

Retail in its nature however follows people. Huge downtown department stores like O’Neil’s in Akron, Ohio, were replaced with several smaller locations in suburban malls.

Too often today we attempt to reverse the trend. Downtowns around the country are developed to be destinations for retail and entertainment. Suburban residents traveling by car are asked to choose downtown over the mall. When they get there they can’t find parking or must pay for it.

While downtown may have held its lure for early suburban residents, it did not owe its survival to them. Many more who still lived in the city would travel to shop using transit or walking, choosing to have larger items delivered.

Today some of the healthiest downtown’s around the U.S. are in cities with high rates of transit ridership, a high density, and high housing occupancy rate. It wouldn’t be hard to discover where these places are.

Some cities with the highest density also have lively downtowns--New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Chicago to name a few. In the world, cities with population per square mile triple or quadruple of New York fare even better in terms of an active downtown. Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai are a few.

Many of the cites with the best downtowns also have high numbers of transit users. Again New York ranks at the top with places like Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco following suit.

Several cities, notably Los Angeles and Detroit, arguably have less than energetic downtowns--at least when compared to New York and San Francisco--yet have high numbers of transit users and high density.

Both Los Angeles and Detroit are known for their use of the automobile. Today however Detroit continues to sprawl while Los Angeles is increasing in density. Another factor coming into play in these cities may be the demographics of the population that lives in the center city. The urban poor are not an attractive for retailers or retail development and so the retail markets in these downtowns remain less than ideal despite transit ridership and density. Likewise in the world many cities with high density are also poor.

Back to cities trying to re-establish retail in the city core.… While it may seem the most obvious thing to attract retail stores, better would be to attract residents and homeowners, as well as to increase density through housing construction and making fixed-rail transit improvements.

Fixed-rail transit is important for several reasons. First, the fixed nature allows developers to count on a constant flow of patrons in a specific location. Next, fixed transit will encourage an increase in density while transit that isn’t confined to a route can serve growth patterns spurred by the automobile rather than the pedestrian and transit. Most importantly, users tend to like light rail and streetcars better than buses.

Cities with healthy downtowns like those in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco contain discernable characteristics that can be replicated. They are: fixed transit (and high transit use), high density (encouraged by fixed transit), and people of varying income levels.

Cities wanting to improve their downtowns should invest in a variety of housing built in a dense manner, as well as improvement or addition to fixed-rail transit systems. These will bring the residents who choose an urban lifestyle. If only retail is developed, it will face the unrealizable task of luring suburbanites to shop and park in the city.

Bring in the people. Retailers followed people to the suburbs. Retail will follow them back to downtown.

Eric Miller is editor of The New Colonist.

Go to A Word from Richard Risemberg

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