“The city center has faced challenges over the years, but we’ve been working hard to turn things around,” says David Barilla, executive director of Orlando’s Downtown Development Board and Community Redevelopment Agency. “Our goal is to improve walkability, safety, and overall livability by making the sidewalks more accessible day and night and introducing a variety of new offerings for everyone.”
To enliven the area and spur economic activity, a visioning process that began in 2014 is now taking shape with data-driven pedestrian and transit improvements, new residential and retail development, and placemaking initiatives. Downtown Orlando’s action plan, called DTO 2.0, was informed by public input and facilitated by StreetSeen, an urban design evaluation process and digital tool that helps create urban environments that make people feel safe, engaged, and connected to their community.
Urban researchers have identified physical conditions that contribute to the vibrancy and excitement of thriving downtowns. StreetSeen taps into their research and provides a framework for city planners and design teams to document shops, street trees, plazas, and walkways that make streets and other public spaces attractive destinations. It then provides performance metrics that evaluate the condition of the pavement as a walking surface, the architectural interest of the building facades, and the overall quality of the pedestrian experience. By combining the metrics with field observations and data from cloud-based mapping, StreetSeen provides a report on a downtown’s current conditions and ranks design options for improvements.
