Main Street “Activity Zones”. 

 New Downtown Retail and Restaurant Site Design Factors. 

The “Active Zone” of Shops and Restaurants. 

Whether you are worried about the new normal, returning to the old normal or figuring out the expected hybrid, the future of the downtown in every small city and town will depend on the continuity of successful retail and restaurant businesses; usually small and locally owned. Given the continuing experience of 2020 and the expectation that there are more pandemics to come, how do we protect main street businesses; what do we know that will drive the future? 

Small businesses of all types are fragile. Slight changes have big consequences. Care needs to be taken when tinkering with the traditional formula of window signs, comfortable sidewalks, on-street parking and well-lit streets for extended hours shopping and dining and a continuity of successful businesses in downtown’s “Active Zone”.