Reader: The Smarter the Consumers of This New Denver, the Better Developers Have to Be

Denver boomed in 2015, with many neighborhoods growing seemingly out of control. Before the Mile High City turns into something completely unfamiliar, Bree Davies sent a love letter to the town in which she was raised, recapping some of the discussions that residents need to have, in Dear Denver: Ten Conversations...

By Westword Staff

December 31, 2015

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Denver boomed in 2015, with many neighborhoods growing seemingly out of control. Before the Mile High City turns into something completely unfamiliar, Bree Davies sent a love letter to the town in which she was raised, recapping some of the discussions that residents need to have, in Dear Denver: Ten Conversations About the Ever-Changing Mile High City in 2015. Her piece inspired this response from Mark Falcone:

Very thoughtful and constructive post. As a real estate developer in Denver at the center of a few of these changing neighborhoods, I share some of your concerns. As a student of human settlement pattern, I still wonder what has really lead to all this change? Was it the years of advocacy for our center cities that many of us participated in? Or is it a new generation of consumers simply bored by the offerings of their parents' generation? The path forward from here is rife with unintended consequence. We can try and slow it dow,n but that might only exacerbate our affordability challenges. We can try and impose design regulation, but that might ultimately bore us. I'm not sure at all what the right levers are, but one thing I do know: The smarter the ultimate consumer of this new habitat becomes, the better the makers of that built environment have to be. So keep the conversation going. And more design criticism wouldn't hurt.

What do you think of the changes to Denver in 2015? What would you like to see in 2016?

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