Reimagining Cities-Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop

Downtowns are the outlier, but rebalancing should occur in all four WalkUP types. To achieve an optimal portfolio balance, the following strategies for adjusting property types should be considered:

Build more Play portfolio in all four WalkUP types.

Build more Live portfolio, especially in Downtown WalkUPs.

Increase the ratio of for-sale versus for-rent Live in all four WalkUP types.

Reduce Work portfolio’s share

of inventory, especially in Downtowns.

TOACHIEVE THIS REBALANCING, CITIES MUST “MAKE THE RIGHT THING EASY TODO.” Whether it be expediting the entitlement process, moving toward form-based codes and/or offering incentives to hasten adaptive reuse, there are multiple options for how cities can facilitate this rebalancing. To increase the odds that the current doom loop is episodic and not structural, time is of the essence. It’s time to get moving.

Reimagining Cities: Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop 7