ohiogood

I’ve been following Strong Towns closely for a few years and am absolutely invested in the mission. Thanks for spreading the word! My question relates to larger cities – say a metro area of around 2 million, like Cleveland, Columbus, or Cincinnati. They’re very different cities in many ways, but for the purposes of this question I’m lumping them together.

How do you see Strong Towns principles applying to the core DOWNTOWNS of these ~2,000,000 population cities? Certainly, Strong Towns principles fit in nicely with the streetcar neighborhoods of these cities, the former suburbs that have been annexed or surrounded, and so on, but what about the core of the metro area?

Yes, these first-ring neighborhoods have a TON of potential, but my question for u/clmarohn is more aimed towards the challenges associated with the office-skyscraper dominated Downtown core. There's lots of momentum in these cities related to Downtown activation - food trucks, bike lanes, greenspace, etc. - which is all fantastic.

But, how does incrementalism factor in to these Downtown cores? The perception is small/individual developers are priced out of these neighborhoods, so what can be done to incentivize piece-by-piece development instead of master-planned districts?