Insights into a Lively Downtown

Kirk Westphal, a Masters student at the University of Michigan, has created an excellent video, his thesis, which analyzes the principles of successful downtowns/traditional commercial districts, using the "Downtown"of Ann Arbor, Main Street, as a case study.

This is particularly interesting because in the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s, Downtown Ann Arbor languished, a place where upper stories were vacant, restaurants were lousy, and regional department stores closed up to leave vacant spaces that were impossible to fill. Back then the center of the core was around the campus, State and Liberty Streets--Zingerman's and Kerrytown were far away outposts-- and those streets bustled--it helped of course that there are movie theaters there, as well as Borders (Borders started in Ann Arbor), and at one time a decent department store (the chain is now defunct).

As a commercial district revitalization person, I would say that the video doesn't necessarily say anything "new," but that doesn't matter, because what it says needs to be said over and over and over again.

And I guess I forget how long it took me to learn the principles that are laid out in the video. Because with every new advocacy event concerning urban design, I find it a tough slog trying to educate residents on both urban design principles and how developers think, and why projects often are so hideous. This video can really help explain what's important and why.

Thank you Kirk Westphal!

From the Urban and Regional Planning webpage, University of Michigan School of Architecture and Urban Planning:

Play Streaming Video: Windows Media Quicktime

What makes a downtown district appealing? Why do people go out of their way to walk down one side of the street and not the other? These are some of the questions that recent MUP graduate Kirk Westphal tackles with his 19-minute documentary film, Insights into a Lively Downtown: An Ann Arbor, Michigan Case Study. In this audio-visual exploration of successful city streets, Insights weaves together pedestrian interviews with footage of streetscapes and sidewalk behavior to show what Ann Arbor?s healthy blocks have in common. By Kirk O. Westphal, M.U.P.'06 19 minutes

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization