Jacksonville is great for this - Leave Downtown alone

[bl8jaxnative]

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2021/05/04/creative-class-author-touts-triangle-for-more-growth-in-rise-of-15-minute-neighborhoods/

"The idea of a 15-minute neighborhood, or what I like to call a complete community, is a community where more-or-less you could do all of your daily activities," Florida told an econimic development conference put on Tuesday by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. "This has been the real reset in the pandemic, is that more and more people realize they want that."

[thelakelander]

Lol, Richard Florida is late to the party. We're a few decades in on the revitalization of neighborhoods where you can do most of your daily activities within close proximity of your residence. Downtown revitalization even falls within this model, considering they are neighborhoods as well. This was a thing back in the day when he was selling his creative class lingo.

[heights unknown]

I was born in 1956, but correct me if I am wrong, but back in the 40's, 50's, and 60's, weren't downtowns more like neighborhoods? I mean, yes there were businesses/corporations, offices, etc., but there were also restaurants, housing/residences, etc. if I remember correctly. As the old saying goes, "what has been will always come back around and will be." And...it seems that downtowns are returning back to that model or scenario.

[marcuscnelson]

I was born in 2001, but my understanding is that yes, for most of history downtowns (city centers, whatever you want to call them) have been a place where people lived and worked and shopped and were entertained. If anything most neighborhoods were like that. It's relatively recently (~20th century) that cities actually segregated into this area is where the companies and jobs are, this area is where all the housing is, this area is where the shopping is, and this area is the entertainment destination. Downtown Jax has been reflective of those trends, between housing evaporating downtown in favor of office buildings, followed by the 1970s plan to turn it into a shopping district, and now the modern attempts to rebuild it as a neighborhood.

[WAJAS]

I was born in 2001, but my understanding is that yes, for most of history downtowns (city centers, whatever you want to call them) have been a place where people lived and worked and shopped and were entertained. If anything most neighborhoods were like that. It's relatively recently (~20th century) that cities actually segregated into this area is where the companies and jobs are, this area is where all the housing is, this area is where the shopping is, and this area is the entertainment destination. Downtown Jax has been reflective of those trends, between housing evaporating downtown in favor of office buildings, followed by the 1970s plan to turn it into a shopping district, and now the modern attempts to rebuild it as a neighborhood.

A good way to look at this. The existence of a downtown area used to include more than just a Central Business District, but that's all many downtowns are these days. The fact that both of those terms now mean almost the same thing (and 100% the same thing in many cities) shows how everything changed.