A city with great vision such as Denver should have a better response to the recent shooting at 18th and Market streets. To focus on closing bars and nightclubs earlier while ignoring the urban-design factors that likely contributed to the violence is a wasted opportunity.
In “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” (1961), author Jane Jacobs suggested that crime could be reduced by having “eyes on the street.” Community planners use the term regularly to describe the keys to livability and economic vibrancy in cities and urban centers.
My office in LoDo is located two blocks from the scene of the crime, and it’s obvious every time I walk by the intersection that the corner of 18th and Market isn’t safe.
With a parking lot located next to a parking lot, across from a parking garage next to a parking garage, it’s four corners of cityscape invisible to nearby residents, office workers and law-abiding citizens. It’s the perfect urban backdrop for crime and violence.
Closing bars or staggering drinking cut-off times may help combat the crime problem in the near-term, but they’re not long-term solutions. Rather, a safer, 24-hour city can be created by implementing the innovative street design guidelines already on the books in Denver.
Neighborhoods that are diverse in use (i.e., residential, commercial, retail) and are inhabited and utilized around the clock are safer neighborhoods. Concentrating bars in one area diminishes the positive effects of a 24-hour city. Eating, shopping, working, living, socializing and drinking are mutually reinforcing. When they co-exist, they can improve an area’s economy and safety.
Urban revitalization of downtown Denver should continue by promoting a balance of the widest range of local uses that support and encouraging more downtown residents to occupy housing units.
This will create a textured, multi-faceted neighborhood. Balanced office space, work lofts, grocery stores, and restaurants prop up the local economy and inject a sense of place into what is now considered dead space.
Denver is on the verge of something huge and wonderful as it continues down the path of economic revitalization. Options to reduce crime exist, starting with redesigning unsafe streets, intersections, and blocks that are havens for criminals and violence. It would be a mistake for the City to miss its moment by focusing only on what time to cut off the kegs and turn on the floodlights on our beloved LoDo.
Karen Nozik is a planner at Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc., a community design firm that plans and designs livable communities, located in LoDo.
