Downtown is at a crossroads after a centrifugal century, decades of muddled modernization, years of a global pandemic, and the rise of AI and AVs on the horizon. As the nature of socialization, work, living, and consumption – some would say, the nature of urbanity itself – is shifting, how does downtown change? While new silver bullets beckon, true answers call for more profound questions. What and who are downtowns for? How do we bring them to life? How should downtowns evolve, and towards which futures? What is the role of professionals in this evolution?
