• Why downtown retail is coming back

    Even as e-commerce takes market share and national chain stores close, demographic shifts have created a growth market for downtown retail and mixed-use.
    This is one of a series of ongoing Public Square articles on the market, technological, and cultural transformation of the $5 trillion retail industry—and how it relates to a continued shift toward walkable, urban living. In 1964, British pop singer Petula Clark released Downtown , a number one hit...Read more

  • Problems and solutions for main street retail

    Shopability studies for two Florida cities illustrate the potential and hurdles for many American small-to-midsize downtowns.
    Note: This is one of a series of ongoing Public Square articles on the market, technological, and cultural transformation of the $5 trillion retail industry—and how it relates to a continued shift toward walkable, urban living. People love a main street, but the tired, dated look and incomplete...Read more

  • Aging with place and the ‘silver tsunami’

    The oldest baby boomers have crossed the 70-year old threshold, and this generation was the first to live their entire lives in a car-dependent society. Many are looking to move to an urban setting.
    While grocery shopping recently I witnessed a person roughly my age helping her mother shop. I couldn’t immediately identify her mother’s ailment or reason for needing help, and little did I know I’d be doing the same thing for my own mother this week following her eye surgery. The “silver tsunami...Read more

  • Real estate markets revealed

    An interactive map by Zimmerman/Volk Associates offers a detailed view of migration and mobility in counties nationwide.
    Geography and demographics geeks might want to check out a unique new resource—a fascinating interactive map with local information on real estate markets. The map was created by Zimmerman/Volk Associates (ZVA), the firm that invented the target market method of real estate market research. This...Read more