Why Downtowns Fail and How They Can Come Back
 

They are failing because they are not walkable. We have no mass transit here other than buses and 1 commuter rail line......unless you are in Downtown Miami, which you still need a car to be successful.

They have failed because of massive decentralization.

For your downtown to come back, you have to have reasons for people to be there.

Well said.

But to defend Florida a little bit, these downtowns are better than they were 10 years ago. Some like Sarasota, St. Petersurg and Miami have done rather well at bringing back downtown residents.

And as the article mentions, the inner city neighborhoods are also rebounding in a huge way. They may not be "downtown", but they're much more urban than the rest of these cities.

This is a weird and misleading title for the article. It is about Florida downtowns, in particular... which are far from typical downtowns.

Florida downtowns have not "failed" because they actually have yet to succeed -- in the way the author is describing.

Florida downtowns do not have to "come back" because they have nothing to come back from. They've never been "there"... at least not in the classic downtown sense.

They are newer places that have never been the neighborhoods and massive centers of activity that characterize traditional US downtowns.

Florida really developed with the advent of the automobile and air conditioning... and the suburban lifestyle. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to alter suburban lifestyles in favor of a "downtown lifestyle" -- especially when that type of lifestyle never existed there to begin with.

Florida cities that I am more familiar with (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area, Sarasota, Tampa/St. Pete, Orlando) are doing just fine on this matter overall... better than many older urban centers because there is much more investment in Florida. It just takes time to reverse what was basically a backwards development scheme. Florida cities experienced their greatest growth in a "suburb-first" mindset. Now, they are going back to more fully develop their cores. Traditional cities did it the other way around, and many are really now struggling to experience the second major core development.

This hits in perfectly. An attempt (governmental or private) to rebuild a substantial downtown area is going to fail unless there is a good reason to go there. Typically, the ones that succeed do so because of something that is reasonably identifiable (commuting becomes too long, prices get so low as to be attractive, adjacent areas get too expensive) leading some movement in the first place. Helping this along with flexible conversion laws, good transit, improved schools and street safety, etc., is what the city can do.

What this warns against is trying to unilaterally subsidize housing, putting cute flower pots downtown or handing over money to developers (on the "build it and they will come" theory).

When you rip down the brick and replace them with stucco you lose the soul.

It seems that, aside from Miami, the downtown isn't 'complete' enough- not enough residential variety; commercial, especially for daily necessities is not really existent, and there isn't yet enough draw to bring people in except for major events (read:boring on a day-to-day basis). Not to mention they were initially designed around the automobile, making the scale down to a pedestrian level much more difficult than in areas originally designed around pedestrians. Give it some time, and the increased demand for downtown living and vibrancy could change this if people and government are willing to let it happen.

From Google Streetview, Brickell Avenue looks less walkable than North York City Centre, which is no great shakes itself. I don't know how other downtowns in Florida compare (except Key West, which I've walked around extensively).

The only "true" walkable area in Florida is Miami Beach (South Beach) and maybe Key West. Other cities have pockets.........but you are still car dependent.

Brickell Ave isn't really walkable -- in a "pedestrian-friendly" sense. It's getting better than it used to be definitely... but still retains its multi-lane high-speed boulevard function. That will come with increased population density and the political will to make it so.

Miami Beach (South Beach) is probably Florida's best example of a walkable downtown-type area.

Even in Brickell, at night the most active walkable part isn't Brickell Ave itself but rather S Miami Ave and the blocks to the west of Brickell Ave these days. This is where most of the newer condo development took place. Brickell avenue and especially Brickel Bay Drive were mostly built out in the 1970's and 80's and as such are parking pedestal heaven.

The easiest way with Miami to know where the new "boom" buildings are is to see the buildings that are pedestrian friendly.

That's not even my issue. My issue is that so many of the buildings are set back from the street. And their entrances are 8-10 feet above sidewalk level on top of some stairs. There seems to be almost no semblance of a streetwall except for short stretches on a few individual buildings. Setbacks are find for residential sidestreets, but not for what is supposed to be the main commercial street for the neighborhood:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bricke...63.39,,0,-6.61

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bricke...5.18,,0,-13.39


Even this building that has a restaurant at the bottom is set way back from the sidewalk and raised on top of stairs:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bricke...104.44,,0,-0.1

Two words, "storm surge". Buildings on Brickell Ave are only a block from the water.

Only two walkable areas in the entire state of Florida? I think not.:haha:

So why don't you inform us?:rolleyes: I haven't encountered another one living here.

Downtown Orlando is actually very walkable, and is more vibrant than it has ever been. Of course, it certainly helps that some of the most desirable neighborhoods in Central Florida are immediately east/south of the core.

^^^ You can not live in Downtown Orlando without a car....unless you are a hipster. Fort Lauderdale's downtown is just as vibrant....similar case.

http://www.ddaftl.org/gallery/full/dda_image2.jpg
http://www.ddaftl.org/gallery/full/dda_image2.jpg


Hopefully our street car and people mover comes through here in FTL.

http://wavestreetcar.com/yahoo_site_....204120226.jpg
http://wavestreetcar.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/all_projects.204120226.jpg

Can't comment too specifically on Florida's cities, but in general cities that have depended on high-end condo towers to save the day miss out that not only do you need to encourage destinations to locate in certain areas of downtown (residential developments too far away from walkable areas shouldn't be encouraged), you need more people than just the higher-income demographic. And they shouldn't be towers, especially in a downtown that is lacking in much to do aside from walking by lots of parking lots.

Shorter, human-scale development covers more ground (usually parking lots) and therefore ties together much more of the urban fabric back together than a single tall building. Might also need to factor in how many Americans in these smaller cities really want to spend lots of money to live on the 15th floor of a glass tower: I think the smaller structures would appeal to a wider audience. Also, a condo tower surrounded by parking lots doesn't make a block look as healthy or dense as a continuous wall of 3-5 story buildings. Caps on height or lots more hoops to jump through would have been a good idea to ensure smarter development.

Great read. thanks