In Walking Distance

How to prepare downtowns for a rapidly evolving future by designing them for people

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, America’s downtowns still envisioned a future for themselves embodied in ever-taller, ever-shinier, still more valuable office towers. That future is gone. The pandemic exposed a crisis two decades in the making, one marked by steadily rising office vacancy, creeping retail loss, and growing privilege. In Walking Distance reimagines what downtowns can and need to be, showing how some are already being transformed by introducing the vibrant mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods that are essential for downtowns to thrive as the hubs of the knowledge and innovation economies that our cities and regions need.

David Dixon begins by tracing the diminishing appeal of downtown to investors, workers, and visitors amid the plummeting demand for office and retail space and a growing need for housing that people can afford. He then describes how, by artfully tapping unprecedented housing demand, downtowns can lead their cities and regions into a new era of opportunity and inclusion through collaborative local leadership, zoning and regulatory frameworks grounded in community-based goals, public-private partnerships, and government policies that support rather than hinder local initiatives. Dixon explains why genuine efforts to prepare downtown for its future mean resisting the urge to pick up where the pre-pandemic downtown left off—and instead leveraging recovery to unleash reinvention.

Drawing on interviews with planning, downtown management, and design experts in cities across the United States and Canada, In Walking Distance presents a bold vision for the future in which downtown becomes a place where people can live, work, play, and find interactive community.