Downtowns all over the country may be down, but no one should count them out, says Emily Mack, the new CEO of the nonprofit group dedicated to improving Chattanooga’s city center.
“Certainly the coronavirus has impacted downtowns throughout the U.S.,” says Mack, who joined River City Company in September after four years as director of the Department of Metropolitan Development for the City of Indianapolis.
“Downtowns throughout America have already experienced pandemics and wars and natural disasters and even terrorist attacks, and there are always these predictions that downtown is dead or this is going to be the end of downtowns,” Mack says. “The reality is downtowns always win out – urbanism always wins out, and downtowns often emerge stronger and healthier than they were before.”
Investing in qualities that underpin resilient downtowns is a key to growing in both difficult times and boom times, Mack says.
That means infill development on the dead zones of surface parking lots, creating a walkable, compact ecosystem that isn’t car-dependent, and ensuring a wide variety of housing options at every price point, she says. Chattanooga has a lot of room to grow there, she says.