Truckee’s Railyard Project
While the City of Sacramento’s redevelopment plans for the 240-acre Downtown Railyards appear to be getting closer to reality, another railyard project is progressing 100 miles east along the route of the first transcontinental railroad in Downtown Truckee (CA). The approximately 75-acre Truckee Railyard area, which is located on former Union Pacific property and the […]
Building Better Downtowns One Block at a Time
For those living and working in depressed areas, one of the most difficult steps in achieving revitalization is to visualize a better future. Words and pictures can fail to capture the imagination. Plans may not seem to reflect resident sentiment. Time frames can be frustratingly long. Local governments may lack the funds for implementing improvements […]
Ten Amazing Real Reel Places
As Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony shows, movies still have a strong power to transport us to places like mid-19th Century America in 12 Years a Slave, late 1970s New York and New Jersey in American Hustle, outer space in Gravity, and a near-future Los Angeles in Her. As impressive as those movies are in creating […]
The “Virtues” of Downtowns
Downtown Palo Alto, located in the heart of Silicon Valley and adjacent to Stanford University, is home to an unassuming two-story building at 165 University Avenue that was once home to Google, PayPal, and Logitech when they were small companies. Music-recognition service company Shazam recently had their Silicon Valley headquarters in this building. Media, such […]
Local Taste: Tasting Rooms in Downtowns
Over the last thirty to forty years, the United States has seen a significant geographic expansion of the beer, wine, and spirits industries. Originally limited to traditional industry centers like Kentucky, Milwaukee, the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, and St. Louis, entrepreneurs have started breweries, distilleries, and wineries in other cities, regions, and states, particularly in […]
Herding Jackalopes: Dealing with Diverse Physical Environments
One of the quirkier pieces of American Western folklore is the “jackalope”. This mythical creature – a jackrabbit with the horns of antelope, deer, or goat – is based on a real virus that causes rabbits to grow horn-like growths. A small industry has grown from this legendary creature, including postcards, hunting licenses, mounted heads, […]
Learning from Las Vegas and Reno: Characteristics of Good Gateway Signs
In my earlier discussion of urban landmarks, I mentioned two gateway signs that are nationally and internationally famous – the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” sign and Reno’s “The Biggest Little City in the World” sign. They not only inform visitors that they have arrived but help define Las Vegas and Reno for the […]
Downtown Revitalization for Almost Free
The last five to six years have been peculiar for American downtowns. Continued evidence shows that developers, local governments, businesses, and the public have rediscovered downtowns as places to shop, work, experience culture, and live. At the same time, public revitalization efforts are becoming more difficult due to the slow pace of the economic recovery […]
A Wish List for the New Sacramento Entertainment and Sports Complex
After decades of incremental change, Downtown Sacramento is on the verge of a dramatic transformation. State worker furloughs have ended, new restaurants and bars have opened, and the Convention Center is preparing expansion plans. The two most significant projects are the 240-acre Railyards, one of the country’s largest urban infill projects, and the Entertainment and […]
The Effect of Commercial Street Pattern on Downtown Planning
The phrase “Main Street” has become synonymous with downtowns in small- and medium-sized American cities, from its use in popular culture, including movies, novels, and Disney theme parks, to politics to the Main Street approach for downtown revitalization. A linear “Main Street” exemplifies the commercial street pattern – the arrangement of commercial uses, particularly retail […]
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