Reimagining Cities-Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop

The motivation for the redevelopment of WalkUPs includes “doing well, while doing good” investments , particularly from the private sector , which includes corporations and strong leaders (see Detroit case study), and philanthropy (see the Pittsburgh and Bryan Park case studies). The public sector and the insurance industry can be involved in overcoming episodic doom loops like the New Orleans and New York City 9/11 case studies. The federal government response to the global pandemic stabilized the entire country—especially cities—through massive subsidies of businesses, transit agencies, city governments, etc. However, the pandemic, a rapid adoption of hybrid working and social unrest still resulted in many WalkUPs , especially Downtowns, being threatened by an urban doom loop taking hold, which is where we find ourselves today . The most impactful investors for reversing doom loops have come from the private sector, 105 the principals having an emotional connection to their city and place with a long-term perspective. The current knowledge economy focuses on WalkUPs. While the founding of the knowledge economy was in Silicon Valley, a Drivable Sub-urban place, this reflects the development form in the 1970s, when it started. The bulk of 21st century knowledge economy companies are now located in WalkUPs, whether it be in Silicon Alley in Manhattan, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in the Downtown Adjacent Capitol Riverfront WalkUP in Washington, DC, or South Lake Union (Downtown Adjacent to Downtown Seattle), home to Amazon’s headquarters. The Seattle case study shows separate ways that two of the “magnificent seven” tech firms have physically grown their footprint, both ending up in WalkUPs. Microsoft in the 1980s started in a business park in Redmond, par for the course in that decade, but has been engaging in the “urbanization of the suburbs” today in the suburban Redmond Town Center WalkUP. The same walkable urban goals have been achieved by Amazon in its “HQ1” in South Lake Union, a Downtown Adjacent WalkUP and its “HQ2” national bidding process that demanded a WalkUP, eventually locating in the National Landing WalkUP, an urbanized suburb across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The experience economy appears to be focusing on WalkUPs as well. The leading industry driving the experience economy is tourism, the 10th largest global industry. 106 It is estimated that 64% of tourism is referred to as “urban tourism,” most of which takes place in WalkUPs 107 108 —while the rest is in resorts, wilderness and “faux walkable urbanism” theme parks. When tourists visit metropolitan New York City, the vast majority go to Manhattan, not a regional mall on Long Island or Northern New Jersey. When a tourist goes to Paris, it is to the Louvre in Downtown and other cultural destinations in many Downtown Adjacent WalkUPs. Retail is also being transformed by the experience economy as outlined in the Apple Store case study. Retail chains, such as Starbucks, 109 have Drivable Sub-urban formats (naturally with drive-thrus) and walkable urban formats. The walkable urban retail format defines the concept of “3rd place,” part of the Play category this study uses. 110 105 Leinberger, Chrisopher B. 2005. Review of Turning around Downtown: 12 Steps to Revitalization. Brookings Institute. May 2005 106 IBISWorld. 2024. “IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics.” www.ibisworld.com. 2024. 107 Coherent Market Insights. 2024. “Urban Tourism Market - Price, Size, Share & Growth.” Coherentmarketinsights.com. 2024. 108 Market Data Forecast. 2024. “Tourism Market | Size, Industry Share Forecast | 2024 to 2029.” Market Data Forecast. 2024. 109 Choi, Jinkyong, Jorge Guzman, and Mario L. Small. 2024. “Third Places and Neighborhood Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Starbucks Cafés.” National Bureau of Economic Research. June 1, 2024 110 Roberts-Ganim, Madeleine. 2023. “Third Places: What Are They and Why Are They Important to American Culture? | English Language Institute.” Esl.uchicago.edu. November 1, 2023.

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