Abstract
Many 20th-century urban experts believed cities, and down-towns in particular, were obsolete. Their prescriptions for preventing them from withering away included redevelopment and reorganization in order to transform (presumably) obsolete downtowns into efficiently operating, modern districts; adding facilities designed to attract new customers whose spending would spill over into the rest of the city; or retrofitting the public realm to accommodate additional motor vehicles that would bring the goods, services, businesses, and people needed for continuing growth. However, each of these strategies was fundamentally flawed, because each one assumed that some particular end state would be the right means for achieving a properly functioning downtown.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
Alexander Garvin, The American City: What Works, What Doesn’t (3rd ed.), New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2013, pp. 196–99.
- 2.
Alexander Garvin, The American City: What Works, What Doesn’t (3rd ed.), New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2013, pp. 194-217.
- 3.
Major Anthony Celebrezze, quoted in I. M. Pei and Associates, Erieview, Cleveland, Ohio: An Urban Renewal Plan for Downtown Cleveland, New York, NY, 1961, p. 2.
- 4.
Garvin, The American City, pp. 149–56 and 193–238.
- 5.
Garvin, The American City, pp. 136–39.
- 6.
Raymond Vernon, Metropolitan 1985, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960, p. 140.
- 7.
Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder, New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1988, pp. 96–97.
- 8.
John Rechy, “Big Table 3,” 1959, quoted in Jim Heimann, Los Angeles: Portrait of a City, Cologne, Germany: Taschen, 2009, p. 386.
- 9.
Carla C. Sobala (compiler), Los Angeles … Today, Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute, 1975, pp. 70–71; Helfeld + Maguire, “Stormy, Controversial Bunker Hill,” Journal of Housing, March 1978, p. 127; Herbert Ray, “Bunker Hill Urban Renewal,” Los Angeles Times, April 15, 1979; Cheryl G. Cummins (ed.), Los Angeles Metropolitan Area … Today, Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute, 1987, pp. 28–35.
- 10.
Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder.
- 11.
Garvin, The American City, pp. 283–84 and 556.
- 12.
“DRA Retail Up-Fit Grant,” Downtown Raleigh Alliance website, 2018, http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/dtretail/dra-retail-up-fit-grant
- 13.
“Raleigh, North Carolina Population, 2018,” retrieved September 20, 2018, from http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/raleigh/
- 14.
“Leasing and Financial Incentives,” Alliance for Downtown New York website, https://www.downtownny.com/leasing-and-financial-incentives
- 15.
Alliance for Downtown New York.
- 16.
Columbus, 2020, “Downtown Business Incentives,” City of Columbus website, https://www.columbus.gov/development/economic-development/Downtown-Business-Incentives/
- 17.
NYC Department of City Planning, “Manhattan Office Space Market 1960–78,” New York City, 1979, unpublished.
- 18.
“Uptown Houston Market Facts & Information,” Uptown Houston website, 2018, http://www.uptown-houston.com/images/uploads/FactBook.pdf, 08.22.2014.
- 19.
John H. Thompson, “Surveying U.S. Census Bureau Commuting Data in Atlanta,” U.S. Census website, April 27, 2016, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/director/2016/04/surveying-u-s-census-bureau-commuting-data-in-atlanta.html
- 20.
Downtown Denver Partnership, “Employment in International Central Business Districts, 2000,” Demographia website, http://www.demographia.com/db-intlcbd.htm
- 21.
Wendell Cox Consultancy, “Analysis of the Proposed Las Vegas LLC Monorail,” Belleville, IL, June 6, 2000, p. 12.
- 22.
Hudson-Webber Foundation “7.2 SQ MI: A Report on Greater Downtown Detroit” (2nd ed.), February 2015, http://detroitsevenpointtwo.com/resources/7.2SQ_MI_Book_FINAL_LoRes.pdf
- 23.
Janette Sadik-Kahn and Seth Solomonow, Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, New York, NY: Viking, 2016, p. xiv.
- 24.
Andrew Tangel and Josh Dawsey, “At Times Square, Fewer Traffic Injuries,” Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2015.
- 25.
Times Square Alliance.
- 26.
Times Square Alliance.
- 27.
Alissa Walker, “The Case against Sidewalks,” Curbed Philly website, February 7, 2018, https://www.curbed.com/2018/2/7/16980682/city-sidewalk-repair-future-walking-neighborhood
- 28.
“Willits V. City of LA Sidewalk Settlement Announced,” City of Los Angeles website, April 1, 2015, https://www.lamayor.org/willits-v-city-la-sidewalk-settlement-announced
- 29.
Umair Irfan, “Cars and Trucks Are America’s Biggest Climate Problem for the 2nd Year in a Row,” Vox Media website, updated Jan 14, 2018, https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/11/16874696/greenhouse-gas-co2-target-2017-paris-trump
- 30.
“Urban Tree Canopy Assessment,” St. Paul website, https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/parks-recreation/natural-resources/forestry/urban-tree-canopy
- 31.
Keith Schneider, “To Revitalize a City, Try Spreading Some Mulch,” New York Times, May 17, 2006.
- 32.
Million Trees NYC, https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/milliontreesnyc and http://www.milliontreesnyc.org/
- 33.
Alexander Garvin, What Makes a Great City, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2016, pp. 175–76.
- 34.
Alexander Garvin, The Planning Game: Lessons from Great Cities, New York, NY: W.W Norton, 2013, pp. 81–92 and 132–46.
- 35.
Peggy Noonan, “Over Trump, We’re as Divided as Ever,” Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2018.
- 36.
Peggy Noonan, “Over Trump, We’re as Divided as Ever,” Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2018.
- 37.
Philip K. Howard, The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America, New York, NY: Random House, 1994, p. 174.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Alexander Garvin
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Garvin, A. (2019). Lessons for Any Downtown. In: The Heart of the City. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-950-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-950-0_6
Publisher Name: Island Press, Washington, DC
Print ISBN: 978-1-64283-062-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-61091-950-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)