Press Release

Emerging Trends and Opportunities for the Nation's Downtowns

Downtown areas have not escaped the punishing effects of the worst recession since 1929. But there are positive signs for the nation's main streets and central business districts.

(Boonton, NJ, January 8, 2010) — Downtown areas have not escaped the punishing effects of the worst recession since 1929. But there are positive signs for the nation's main streets and central business districts.

Many downtown revitalization experts see signs of hope. In the January issue of industry newsletter, Downtown Idea Exchange, a half dozen of those experts shared their insights on the future of downtown areas.

Parallels between today and the 1970s are noted by several of the commentators including journalist and urban critic Roberta Brandes Gratz. "The rejuvenation of American cities that has been unfolding so splendidly in the last decade or so and until the current economic downturn all started in the 1970s. This should give everyone hope today, but only if they are alert enough to recognize the possibilities," she says.

"In small, gradual increments, Americans started to rediscover cities and all kinds of downtowns in the 1970s when cities and many town centers were at their lowest point, or at least getting there. The turn-around was a slow, very localized process that went unrecognized - or dismissed - by experts who did not understand that big, significant change always starts small and slowly.

In many places, historic preservationists were the vanguard of the downtown renewal movement, she says, "fighting to save a courthouse, a theater, or a row of architecturally and historically significant downtown stores. Malls were vacuuming out those downtowns. Empty was the rule of the day in too many storefronts. But Americans have now had a few decades of repetitive, unimaginative big chain shopping."

"This is not disappearing but something else has been emerging in parallel time - a hunger for individually created, locally-made fare, whether food, clothing, or other products. With the economic downturn has come empty stores and falling rents, in other words, an opportunity for the new, the small, and the experimental.

"Downtown policies need to nourish this opportunity, to stop looking to the chains for salvation, to remember that downtown's greatest strength occurred historically when diversity in substance, size and style reigned. With the right encouragement, it could again."

Interested readers may visit the Downtown Research & Development Center website to read the full report at http://www.DowntownDevelopment.com/dixtrends.php.

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About Downtown Idea Exchange

Downtown Idea Exchange newsletter is published by the Downtown Research & Development Center. For more than 50 years, the Downtown Research & Development Center has provided a forum for exchanging news, information and ideas on how to rebuild the hearts of our cities.

Website: http://www.DowntownDevelopment.com