Reimagining Cities-Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop

Complementary WalkUPs Developing a Virtuous Spiral is the coming together of different walkable urban places and elements that did not exist in the late 20th century or were isolated from surrounding, complementary uses. WalkUPs are not meant to be walled off from their surrounding neighborhoods, but instead should be complementary to other WalkUPs and walkable urban neighborhoods. The most important city real estate trends of the early 21st century have been the revitalization of Downtown WalkUPs and the development of Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs, most of which did not exist before 2000. Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs can surround a Downtown in a 360° manner. For example, in Downtown Washington, DC, the office boom in the early 21st century, combined with the city height limit, pushed office supply to Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs such as Capitol Riverfront (southeast), NoMa (northeast) and The Wharf

NoMa created a Parks Foundation to build new parks and a connection to the Capitol Bikeway, and The Wharf created a lively riverwalk lined with parks and restaurants. The outward expansion of Downtown and Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs throughout the country started the rebirth of early 20th century streetcar neighborhoods, as well as the connection to isolated built environment assets. Virtually every city had streetcar neighborhoods; the streetcar system was usually built by the same developer who built the neighborhood. The addition of retail along a Main Street, or scattered throughout the neighborhood, supported local needs of middle-class residents for generations. However, that retail was emptied out in the late 20th century, due to strip and regional malls on the fringe, and the middle class fled to the suburbs, leaving these neighborhoods to decline in value. As Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs began growing in the early 21st century, local-serving retail followed. An increased demand for living in walkable urban neighborhoods has led to the revitalization of streetcar neighborhoods around the U.S. Low-income neighborhoods surrounding Downtown and Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs now had nearby retail—the reopening of local-serving retail in the very same buildings abandoned decades ago led to neighborhood revitalization. In Atlanta, these revitalized neighborhoods include Grant Park (southeast), Inman Park (east), Ponce de Leon (northeast), Ansley Park (north), Atlantic Station (a new Urban Commercial WalkUP to the northwest), Ashby Station (west) and Castleberry Hill (southwest). A remarkable infrastructure project, resulting from a Georgia Tech urban planning thesis, led to a 22-mile walking/ biking trail, the Beltline, surrounding the greater Downtown and connecting all of these neighborhoods. In addition, formerly isolated assets, such as The Carter Center/ Presidential Library (east), Martin Luther King Center (east), and the Atlanta University Center (four historically Black universities and colleges in the southwest) were now integrated into the ever-expanding greater Downtown/Downtown Adjacent WalkUps.

(southwest). In addition, its Downtown was not focused on residential development so those who wanted to live in a walkable urban place with high vitality ended up occupying the new multifamily rental and for-sale condos in these Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs. Place management organizations also pushed for grocery stores to be part of the product mix, making living there more convenient. Plus, place management organizations encouraged substantial Play features to be built. Capitol Riverfront is home to the professional baseball stadium and soccer field, two new parks and a riverwalk.

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