Downtown Revitalization: Downtown Trends
For the past 20 years, about every five years (a lustrum) DANTH, Inc. has engaged in a review of the social, economic and political trends that are --- or soon will be-- affecting the health and well-being of downtown, urban neighborhood and Main Street commercial districts. We do this because it is an essential asset when we work on any kind of revitalization strategy for our clients.
Being a curmudgeon, I must also strongly opine that being aware of these trends and their potential effects is an essential component of any district manager’s job. Unfortunately it is a job function that too many managers ignore.
Click here to view DANTH’s complete 2003 trends assessment in Adobe PDF
The 2008 assessment is now underway. As our current work progresses, links to future reports of our findings in PDF format will be posted to this web page next to their titles:
Here are some of the topics we’ve been looking at and will post reports on over the coming months:
Downtown Movie Theaters Will Be Increasingly In Great Danger Rethinking Downtown Entertainment Niches Time-pressured people continue to be downtowns’ best friends Food: Capture What You Should Own The Mommy Niche Retailing is in for much tougher times Apparel and Home & Hearth Niches Downtown crime redux Downtown Friendly Parking and New Technology 
Downtown Friendly Retail Store Designs (see slide show below)