Redefining "Downtown"

[Noone]

I have been reading these blogs for the three years that I have been living in Jacksonville, and plan to start trying to get more involved in the conversations. But I wanted to sit back and learn for a bit first. Here I go.

A Central Business District??

One thing that I'd like to hear some feedback on, I think that for the most part people have an interesting view of what constitutes “Downtown” Jacksonville. I am from Louisiana, so New Orleans is my big city frame of reference, but I have also visited many other similar sized cities. One thing I think is missing from the conversation in Jacksonville is the idea of a Central Business District (CBD). I've never heard of this part of Jacksonville (where all the tall buildings are) referred to as the CBD, or the 9 to 5 place that people work. People seem to insist that this relatively small area is our “Downtown”

Thriving Adjacent Communities

People in Jacksonville seem like the only way Downtown will succeed is if tons of residential complexes sprout up next to the Modis Building and a movie theatre moves in next to the BOA Building. Or if thousands of people are walking the streets of the very center of Downtown 24/7. But that is not what a CBD is!  I think many Jacksonvillians focus to transform this PART of downtown is wrongheaded and leads to a depressed view of what downtown currently has to offer.
New Orleans is hardly a city known for a weak downtown, but the CBD at night is as dead as “downtown” (really our CBD) Jax. Its where people work, of course it slows down at night! It is the adjacent communities, most notably the French Quarter in New Orleans, that provide the 24/7 activity. Jacksonville is closer to this than we may feel, simply because we have confused our CBD with our Downtown.

A Need for ConnectivityT
The problem with Downtown, as I see it, is one of definition and connectivity.
First, people define downtown as what I would define as the Central Business District. If when we mentioned “Downtown” it included Brooklyn, Five Points, Springfield, San Marco and the areas directly connected to the CBD then our view of Jacksonville’s “downtown” would be different.
Now I understand that the reason we tend to not think this way is because Brooklyn and Five Points are separated from the CBD by an urban forest and grasslands, Springfield is disconnected by a fortress style Community College, and San Marco is on the other side of the River. But that doesn’t mean they cannot be considered part of “Downtown.” We get to choose how we define these regions.

First we need to make Downtown a reference to ALL of downtown (From 5 points to the stadium, from Springfield to San Marco) and start naming what we currently consider to be Downtown the Central Business District. If nothing else this will help us feel psychologically better about “Downtown.”
Then our focus should not be on building up the CBD and hoping it spreads outward, but the focus should be on building the surrounding communities, promoting connectivity, and meeting in the center.

Nice post. Makes sense to me.