The coronavirus pandemic has claimed thousands of lives while spreading untold fear. Yet the crisis also unleashed a wave of creativity. For evidence, look to the city of Baltimore’s Design for Distancing contest, a program created to elicit ideas for innovative responses to the COVID-19 recession. The competition brought more than 160 entries, many from…To read more — login/subscribe
Asphalt art projects combine pedestrian safety, urban beautification — The Bloomberg Philanthropies Asphalt Art Initiative gives up to $25,000 per locale for visual art interventions on roadways, pedestrian spaces, and public infrastructure. See the City of Monticello Business District Building Improvement Grant Program application and guidelines.
Watch videos about public art in Kansas City, MO, and Saginaw, MI, below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa8xNx7Cjwk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBdRy0x7Gqg
...System of sensors and signs helps improve parking — When workers return downtown in a number of cities, they will be greeted by a range of new parking technologies. Watch a video about the parking garage management system below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfXlVldgjaU ...
Old style mall becomes modern food hall — The newest addition to downtown Milwaukee’s vibrant restaurant scene is the 3rd Street Market Hall, with a dozen restaurants and food businesses. Read the report, “Food Halls 3.0.” ...
As your downtown grows more sophisticated, and as retailers increasingly look to invest in main street locations, developing credible and comprehensive recruitment data is ever more important. Emily Brett, senior manager of economic development at the Downtown Denver Partnership, offers these tips for developing recruitment data, and producing meaningful reports, without breaking your budget: •…To read more — login/subscribe
For a quarter-century, the Downtown Improvement District (DID) in Reading, PA (est. pop. 88,373), managed the city’s declining urban core. The DID’s ambassadors picked up trash, and the organization hosted summer concerts, a holiday parade, and other events. However, Reading never experienced a true downtown renaissance, and questions about the DID’s effectiveness festered. Those doubts…To read more — login/subscribe
The Flatiron District in Manhattan is home to dozens of restaurants, bakeries, and cafés. Despite the wide range of options, diners needed a little extra push to order food for delivery or pick-up during the pandemic. The solution: Offer a year of free meals. The contest was simple, participants enjoy a meal from their favorite…To read more — login/subscribe
The post-pandemic performance of the nation’s city centers continues to be a mixed bag. On the downside, downtowns are facing well-documented problems. Office space remains underused, and office-serving merchants are struggling. At the same time, city centers bear the brunt of homelessness. But downtowns are also proving remarkably resilient. They have begun to recover dramatically…To read more — login/subscribe
Cities across the U.S. have been investing in streetcars. But in Omaha, NE (est. pop. 487,299), the city’s most famous resident says the city’s downtown streetcar project is a boondoggle. “Residents can be far better served by extended or more intensive service by the bus system,” billionaire Warren Buffett wrote in a letter to the editor…To read more — login/subscribe
Parking garages take on new life In an effort to encourage owners of parking garages to activate their spaces during down times, the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative created a pop-up rooftop performance venue at a downtown parking garage. “We were hoping owners would see that garages could be put to really good use during the…To read more — login/subscribe
For delivery driver Matt McCullough, finding a place to park in downtown Aspen, CO (est. pop. 7,431), was often a challenge. But a new curb-management system has made his workday much easier. Aspen is one of four cities of varying sizes testing software from Coord, a New York City-based company focused on parking programs for…To read more — login/subscribe
