Bring back the food trucks! Sure, you could measure office occupancy as a sign of a downtown’s health. But this could be even better measure: Are the food trucks back? Not the hotdog vendors, but the gourmet trucks, which were popular before the pandemic but have mostly disappeared from empty #downtowns like D.C.’s. So a newspaper sought out some food truck vendors to see … what might lure them back. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2023/7-food-truck-operators-best-ideas-save-downtown-dc?itid=hp_opinions_p002_f003

A well-known economist writes about how American cities grow and evolve and what impact #WFH will have on this dynamic. His bottom line: not much. As long as people have to come to the office, even if for a few days a week, the clustering of jobs will continue. But while WFH’s impact on cities may be slight, it could have big impacts on #suburbs, #neighborhoods, #transit and #downtowns. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/opinion/cities-zoom-return-to-office.html

As empty as downtown office buildings are in some cities, there’s an even more visible problem downstairs … all those vacant storefronts at ground level. They are the bad results of a good thing, the acceptance of mixed uses by developers. The challenge for #downtowns and developers now may be to rethink what “mixed” means. Could it be something other than #retail or restaurants? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/upshot/cities-downtowns-vacant-storefronts.html #CRE

We come to bury this freeway, not to raze it: What if we could have our present system of freeways AND somehow undo the damage they’ve done to cities? That’s the idea behind the idea of “caps” or “lids” built over highways, usually with a park on top. Just such a project is starting construction in Philly with the aim of reconnecting downtown with its riverfront. https://billypenn.com/2023/08/29/philadelphia-i-95-cap-park-penns-landing-groundbreaking/ #downtowns

Some cities are too full of themselves. And some are too filled with doubt. Philly is one of those look-down-at-my-shoes places. Which is odd, given the comeback the city and, in particular, its downtown staged 20 years ago. Yes, Covid and crime have taken a toll recently. But Covid is in retreat, and we know how to reduce crime. We did it from 1992 to 2014 as we also turned around #downtowns. So, hey, chin up, Philly. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2022/06/04/future-of-center-city/

“Is anyone ever going to lease these suburban offices again?” With all the handwringing about the future of #downtowns, don’t forget that the same forces are at work in suburban “edge cities” … basically, empty offices and plunging #CRE values. Also like downtowns, the suburban districts suffering most are those with the fewest residents. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/05/empty-office-buildings-vacancy-rate-suburbs-virginia/

Downtown D.C. is not where George Washington and Pierre L’Enfant intended it to be 230 years ago. Granted, D.C. is an unusual place with lots of gov’t buildings, but it was always planned to have a commercial district. Just not where it is today. So why did downtown move and when? And, oh yeah, where the heck IS downtown D.C. today? A three-part series. https://ggwash.org/view/82743/history-of-downtown-dc-part-i #downtowns

Memo from the Bureau of Grasping at Straws: Downtown S.F. has lots of empty office space. Why not fill them with … a university! Problem solved! Except for one detail: It takes decades and enormous political effort to move even portions of college campuses. Better ideas: Improve #publicsafety, deal effectively with #homelessness, clean the sidewalks … and have faith that cities can mend themselves. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/downtown-university-campus-18260569.php #downtowns #highered

Downtown BIDs, like the one in Atlanta, are studying which office buildings could most easily be converted to #housing, another sign that the role of #downtowns is changing. #Transit officials should pay close attention. Most transit systems were built to take people from home to work and back. But what happens if the buildings at the end of the line become housing? The purpose and structure of transit must change as well. https://www.ajc.com/news/which-downtown-atlanta-offices-towers-would-make-good-homes/42WQTJ7EBFERRPSW4ZYCGF23EU/

“Be more creative and you have better profits”: In dealing with systemic failure, it’s a good idea to look for something, however small or marginal, that seems to be doing well in spite of the gloom. Sociologists call this “positive deviance.” Downtown S.F. is a place wallowing in failure these days. So why are all these bars opening there? And what is making some of them succeed? https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/bars-downtown-sf-18215294.php #downtowns

If your city is a state capital, you know that having lots of gov’t buildings is both blessing and curse. Blessing because, well, the gov’t isn’t going anywhere, so downtown has an anchor. Curse because gov’t is the ultimate consumer of single-use buildings, so when workers go home at 5, gov’t districts are dead. What could be worse than that? If those workers don’t show up at all, as is the case in D.C. these days, where most federal workers still #WFH. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/07/13/dc-federal-offices-underutilized-report-downtown/ #downtowns

The great moments in capitalism are when someones sees that a market has reached its bottom and figures out a way of leading it back … or at least being part of the rebound. The two markets in cities today most in need of a bottom … and a rebound … are #downtowns and the #newsmedia. In Mpls, a former mayor’s son thinks he knows how to lead both of them back. https://www.minnpost.com/media/2023/07/if-downtown-minneapolis-is-dead-why-is-it-getting-a-new-community-news-outlet/

The research is becoming clearer on #WFH: Employees are not more productive away from offices. In fact, they get less done. And there are significant problems with teamwork, which makes planning new projects harder. So hang on, #downtowns and #transit. Companies are growing impatient with workers who never appear at the office. This latest wave of studies may put a lot more people on trains headed downtown. https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/06/28/the-working-from-home-delusion-fades

Crises don’t create whole new ways of doing things as much as speed up changes already underway. And when crises are past, things never return entirely to their former states. That seems to be the case with #WFH. Before the pandemic, on an average day a quarter of employees worked from home. Now a third do. What does this mean for cities? Cities will adapt … as they always do. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/06/22/remote-work-family-socialization-time-use/ #downtowns

What should cities do about empty downtown office buildings? Double down on providing high-quality, low-cost services … including #publicsafety. Invest in transit. Loosen zoning and other restrictions that make it difficult to readapt buildings. If the city can assist the downtown BID in events, do so. And then get out of the way. Leave it to the market to dispose of overpriced assets. It’s what markets are good at. https://www.governing.com/community/downtowns-zombies-how-to-fight-a-post-covid-plague-of-undead-office-buildings #CRE #downtowns

The urban sport: #NFL and, to an extent, #MLB teams are willing these days to abandon downtowns for new stadiums in the suburbs. But not all teams are leaving #downtowns. Some are embracing them. The downtown lovers? #NBA teams. In Atlanta, the Hawks’ owners are involved in a $5 billion downtown development called Centennial Yards. And Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has big plans for downtown Cleveland. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/06/01/can-downtown-densification-rescue-cleveland

There are two big #downtowns in the S.F. area. The one whose troubles you’ve heard about is downtown S.F. The other is across the bay in Oakland. Like its neighbor, Oakland’s downtown suffers from #WFH and the loss of retail, and leaders are trying to bring more #housing to the district. The difference: Downtown Oakland never had the soaring successes of S.F.’s downtown, so its troubles seem more routine. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/downtown-oakland-17902680.php

What every strategic planner learns is that people argue over “how” far more than “what.” The corollary is, if you can get people to agree on goals … basically, what we’re aiming for … you can usually get agreement on how to achieve the goals. Ergo, “what” before “how.” An urbanist argues this is what we need now with #downtowns: more discussion of “what;” fewer squabbles over “how.” https://ggwash.org/view/89671/downtown-dcs-recovery-comes-down-to-one-word

When the pandemic hit, #WFH saved the day for many companies. Now that the pandemic has receded, it’s time to come back to the office, right? For some workers, sure. For many, no. Is the resistance to return an indictment of office work or #downtowns? No, it’s about the lousy commute. Going forward, we have two great projects: Figure out when, how and for whom WFH should be integrated into office work. And shorten the distance from home to work. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/opinion/elon-musk-remote-work.html

The cranes of Calgary: There is so much handwringing in places like S.F. that it’s important to remind citizens and leaders that cities are good at adapting. If you doubt this, just look north of the border to a city whose economy took a nosedive a decade ago … and whose leaders and citizens pulled together to transform an ailing downtown. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/18/calgary-downtown-revitalization-plan/ #downtowns