What does an inclusive downtown Minneapolis look like to you?
Maybe there’s fun nightlife, with a roller rink in the city center. Our outdoor spaces might be designed for people of all ages, with playgrounds for kids to play and tai chi classes for older adults. Colorful art might cover our streets and buildings, featuring murals painted by local artists.
It’s a pivotal moment to re-envision our city.
As Minneapolis emerges from the pandemic, we have a monumental opportunity to reimagine our community. It's time to create a new downtown – and this time, one that is designed for everyone.
It can have far-reaching impacts, not just in the Twin Cities, but serving as a model for cities throughout the midwest.
We know that hybrid work is here to stay, and as a result, lots of businesses have left our city center. But our city was deeply sick long before the start of the pandemic. We need to start at the beginning, by recognizing that downtown was never designed for all of us in the first place.
Downtown was never for everyone.
The Elliot Park neighborhood exists on violently acquired Dakota land, and discriminatory housing policies in the 1900’s hindered wealth-building for people of color. More recently, gentrification during the past two decades rendered Elliot Park unaffordable for Black renters and homeowners.
Further, the built environment of downtown exposes residents to health risks – highways I-94 and 35W isolate Elliot Park, polluting the air and causing health conditions like asthma. Tree canopy coverage is far below the city average, exacerbating heat and pollutant issues. These environmental hazards disproportionately affect marginalized communities and perpetuate inequalities.
The story of downtown is a story of systematic disinvestment, loss of autonomy, and economic exclusion for Indigenous, Black, and communities of color.
It’s time for this story to be rewritten, and this time by the people who’ve historically been pushed to the margins. At Imagine Deliver, we believe in listening first. Our work elevates community-driven solutions to create actionable strategies, focusing on rebuilding a world for everyone.
We spoke with more than 2000 downtown and Hennepin County residents to ask them about their visions for a “new downtown.”
Here’s what an inclusive downtown looks like to the people of Minneapolis, featuring quotes in their own words:
1. It’s easy to walk around.
Designed for pedestrians, it’s convenient to walk to work, stores, schools, and other places – promoting sustainability and healthy living. It’s a fifteen-minute city, meaning you can walk or bike to most everything you need within a fifteen minute radius.
“I think about walkability as a sign of a healthy community…that would be helpful for downtown to become a hub.”
2. It’s built for food security.
Urban agriculture helps to feed local residents, with plentiful gardens and fruit trees, and local grocery stores and farmers markets carry nutritious food and cultural ingredients.
“Lots of permaculture..I imagine local parks have food-bearing plants like fruit trees, nuts, berry shrubs, and vegetables.”
3. It promotes public safety without relying on traditional policing methods.
People feel safe and secure in the neighborhood, with tactics like well-lit, activated streets. Mental health responders also support physical and psychological safety.
“Downtown is a central prime area for people experiencing homelessness, as well as people with mental health and addiction, [so some support] would be a really, really big improvement.”
4. It encourages BIPOC entrepreneurship at the street level.
Policies support Black and Brown entrepreneurs to create a new heartbeat for our city, especially through small businesses and local innovation. BIPOC-owned storefronts and merchants line our streets.
“Hennepin County declared racism a public health crisis, so I think [we are] putting this in their hands and having them invest in Black- and Brown-owned businesses.”
5. It’s resilient to climate change.
Trees, parks, and green buildings help to cool the neighborhood, providing shade while also restoring connections to nature.
"Intentional green spaces or buildings that are green and have safe spaces for kids to run off energy like parks.”
6. It welcomes everybody on its streets and in its skyways.
By examining the racist nature of private skyways and policies that limit accessibility to some but not others, it helps rectify the racial and economic segregation of our city.
"[I envision] a welcoming space for families…where they aren’t being looked at by a bunch of security guards.”
7. It features abundant public transportation, as well as affordable and free parking options.
Accessible and low-cost transportation options support more people to visit downtown. It’s a well-connected downtown that’s easy to get to and encourages people to stay.
“Parking lots are expensive, and street parking is limited with availability and with recent changes with increased fees as well.”
8. It creates community spaces and room for recreation.
Coffee shops, bars, and other gathering spaces provide opportunities for community engagement and well-being.
“Open spaces and community spaces are very important, and ideally they are distinct or curated to different parts of the community.”
9. It floods our ecosystem with abundant capital.
With durable funding, it nurtures underrepresented entrepreneurs and commercial developers in Hennepin County, ensuring growth opportunities are both accessible and equitable.
“I think about calling together first-time entrepreneurs, providing them some place to be able to come together.”
So how can we make this happen?
The insights surfaced from our community can make a huge impact on the Twin Cities and beyond. As an epicenter for social change, Minneapolis holds potential to make ripple effects throughout the nation. Our community wisdom can generate a model for the new midwestern city – making a transformative impact on urban environments more broadly.
To start taking action, we can prioritize listening to community members and actively sharing decision-making responsibilities. We can advocate for policy changes that address accessibility, like creating free and affordable parking, developing alternatives to policing, reopening third spaces for recreation, repurposing street-level spaces for small-scale commerce, and investing in BIPOC-owned businesses. To prove our commitments to equity, we need to get started quickly.
Minneapolis is fully capable of rebuilding our city from the core, creating a new, distinct heartbeat that reflects the beauty of its people. It's time to listen first and then act together.
Download your copy of our New Downtown placemat and Mini Genius Guide today!
We invite you to envision a new future for our midwest cities and take action to bring them to life.
Want to hear more? Check out this Star Tribune op-ed by our CEO Kate Downing Khaled and Adair Mosely, CEO of the African American Leadership Forum. This piece emerged out of a Walker Art Center speaker series, Abundant Cities: Inclusive Cities, where Kate spoke as a panelist.
Many thanks to people and organizations that have helped to surface these insights, including the residents that shared their visions for the new downtown and local clients like the Hennepin Healthcare Design team. Thank you also to Walker Art Center, and the speakers on the Abundance Cities: Inclusive Cities panel, including Adair Mosley of African American Leadership Forum Twin Cities, Rochelle Riley of City of Detroit, and Steven Bosacker of German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Interested in seeing more of our community insights? Check out our Genius Guides that showcase the power of visual storytelling to illuminate community insights.
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