I recently had a conversation with a friend who contended that wanting downtowns to be viable is quaint and unrealistic. He feels that downtowns are more trouble than they are worth because of their high density, lack of parking, and overpriced retail that can be bought more conveniently and cheaply in chain stores.
Admittedly, is it this the reality of what most people think? Not everyone I spoke with agreed that downtown needed more density to thrive...it's apparent most Americans value their physical space, which I think is intrinsically tied to the anti-downtown value system. What does a downtown need to do or be to be viable, to compete with the sprawl? Can a low-density downtown work? Or, even more directly, other than sentiment or nostalgia, why is it even important to a community that downtown be viable at all--why do we need downtown cores?
If you had one thing you could do to or in Wichita's downtown, what would it be?
How would you sell your idea in the face of desire to do all things out on Rock Road?
If the roads of a city can be considered as tracings of the psychology and feeling of place, or what a city can be maybe that would change the nature of the design of a city. A grid seems the most utilitarian and most economic type or kind of tracing; and to build a city around that type, seems to keep all areas equal, and all areas separate at the same time.
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