As communities across the country work to revitalize downtowns and neighborhoods, which metrics indicate progress or success?
Knight commissioned Community Science to review existing research on downtown revitalization, equitable economic development and public space activation to investigate this question. While this work was commissioned before the COVID-19 pandemic and before the reenergized dialogue about addressing racial inequities in the United States, the question is vital as cities reopen and recover as vibrant, equitable hubs of social, economic and civic life. City leaders across the nation are simultaneously confronting two questions: how to recover and how to do so equitably. This report shares learnings about ways to measure success in both of those aims.