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Across America, downtowns and their centrally located neighborhoods have lost population and vitality to the sprawling suburbs that sprang up after World War II. Nearly every community has experienced the closing of stores and restaurants and the loss of office jobs to remote office parks. Today, neighborhood revitalization strategies, such as mixed-use development and the rehabilitation of historic properties, have proven effective at attracting increasing numbers of people to live and work downtown. And this new residential population is helping to support the resurgence of retail businesses that draw office workers, tourists, convention-goers, and many others to downtown.
Mixed-use developments, projects in which a variety of uses are sited adjacent to one another, are now making a comeback across the nation. At its simplest, a mixed-use project is essentially a collection of stand-alone, single-use buildings organized according to a coherent plan. Although the individual uses may be designed, developed, and built as separate projects, the grouping under a common neighborhood master plan emphasizes accessibility and encourages pedestrian movement.
Additional neighborhood revitalization strategies include:
- Historic preservation and revitalization
- Density
- Transit-oriented development
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