A recent report Prepared for the International
Downtown Association By the Philadelphia Center City District by Philadelphia
Center City District’s own economic development professional and visionary,
Paul Levy. Well worth a read for
regional economic development professionals.
Density and Diversity:
a national trend
Downtowns across the United States are thriving. From Boston
to San Diego, Seattle to Miami, cities are diversifying their economies and
land use, restoring and enlivening public spaces. During the last three
decades, city centers have been adding arts, culture, dining, education,
medical, and research institutions, along with hospitality, leisure, and sports
venues. Simultaneously, there has been a dramatic and sustained increase in
residents, living both within business districts and adjacent neighborhoods.
Places once shunned as empty and unsafe at night are being redeveloped
at higher density and are thriving after dark. They have become preferred
places for work, entertainment, and living. Patrons of downtown regional
destinations mingle with office workers, resident young professionals, empty nesters,
and, in many cities, an expanding number of families with children. The trends
of diversification, animation, and residential revival are occurring as well on
and around urban colleges, universities, medical centers, research parks, and other
urban commercial zones.
Downtown revitalization has been written about extensively. But
it has proved difficult to arrive at standard definitions that make it easy to
quantify and compare employment and population trends across the broad range of
American cities. A relatively new data-merging and mapping effort from the U.S.
Census Bureau and state labor market information (LMI) agencies, called the
Local Employment Dynamics data and
OnTheMap, now make it possible to conclude:
• While employment across the United States has been decentralizing
for decades1 and now averages only 0.05 jobs per acre (34.1 jobs per square
mile), 28 major urban employment centers
have achieved densities in excess of 100 jobs per acre, while another 24 have
between 75 and 99 jobs per acre. (See Appendix II, Table 1 for all 150 cities
and their 231 job nodes and Table 2 for Job Densities.)
• Total wage and salaried employment in America's 150 largest
cities2 (on the basis of jobs) now accounts for 30% of all wage and salaried employment in the United
Philadelphia ranks #8th on the list with a total of
665,585 jobs
Download this comprehensive report here…
Source: Defining Downtown
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