Hacker News Reader

Are we rapidly brushing past the question “do we want and need to save downtowns in the first place?”?

I have not really thought that through; at first blush it seems obvious that one would want to save these downtowns. But also some of the best innovations arise out of the creation that follows destruction.

I’m open to clarifying opinions on the matter

View on HN

I do think the simple fact of offering hyper-dense communities (especially in cities that lack them otherwise, like many midwestern cities, say) makes any downtown attractive as a living option to a certain group of people who want the "15 minute city" experience. Doing so tends to transform downtowns into actual communities as well, as opposed to places with many low quality vendors that cater to duller, less personable 9-to-5 routines.

And then of course there are knock-on effects to placing people like that (typically young professionals and artists) together like that to rub shoulders, talk about ideas, start businesses etc...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com