Have they completed their primary function historically?
Have changes in American lifestyle caused them to now be out of the mainstream?
It is obvious the role of downtowns has changed. Previously the core of local shopping, many have now been left in the backwater of retail activity. They have had a difficult time competing with the ubiquitous new shopping centers located on the city fringe.
Why have downtowns become obsolete?
Downtown merchants have shown a reluctance to bring necessary innovation.
The inherent nature of many "typical" downtown retailers is that others must change, not them. They look back on an earlier period when downtowns had little competition, and do not adjust quickly enough to new realities.They are most often independent storeowners who have traditionally seen other downtown storeowners are competitors.
However, in today's larger marketplace their primary competition is not the store across the street, but the shopping center just outside of town or the regional shopping mall miles away. Downtowns have a desperate need for more cooperation among merchants and storeowners; they need to give up some of their independence for a more coordinated assault on external competition.Downtown business owners have been lulled into complacency because of the low overhead costs in running a business in the downtown.
Often they owntheir own building outright . With low taxes, no rental or leasing fees, and minimal maintenance and renovation, they can run a business with very low overhead costs. The orientation of their business is toward lower costs rather than increased sales, and a collective sense of apathy discourages efforts to revitalize.Downtowns are increasingly obsolete in terms of their infrastructure.
They have older streets, often not built to modern standards, resulting in congestion and slow-moving traffic. Open spaces have not been redeveloped, but simply become parking spaces. Often parking areas are scattered throughout the downtown with locations not immediately obvious to shoppers.Downtowns have also been losing their importance as cultural centers.
Social habits have changed in a number of ways. First, American families are much more mobile, and don't feel tied to the local town center as a focus of activity. Also, residents are much more self-sufficient--their business needs can largely be taken care of by phone or fax; their entertainment needs commonly include watching videos at home rather than attending the local movie theater. Downtowns no longer have a captive market in providing for everyday needs, and the central functions they formerly held have been largely usurped by a new, wider-ranging and faster paced society.
Other reasons could be given to explain the decline of American downtowns--the construction of highway beltways and bypasses which draw off traffic; the movement of upper income residents to fringe areas, leaving less desirable low-rent housing in the center city; and so on.
But these belabor the point. The more important question becomes:
What can be done to move beyond these historic patterns of decline? and What are appropriate approaches for the revitalization of downtowns in light of current realities?
| "Main Street Is Dead" |
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| Wm. Whyte's View of Downtown |
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