e hate to say it, but the city center simply isn’t a place where locals hang out. Beyond the Union string together a couple of hours of fun—downtown Denver lacks the packed vibrancy and appeal that bars, cafes, retailers, and gathering spaces bring to similarly sized cities, like San Francisco and Boston. As it stands, downtown has a few lively pockets—like McGregor and Larimer squares—but there’s not much to entice folks to travel among them. The city needs to encourage new foot-traffic patterns in these in-between spaces. In 2016, Vancouver, British Columbia, implemented a project called More Awesome Now () to transform “laneways into places of discovery.” It goes beyond the artwork and seating Denver added to the alley that cuts through the Dairy Block. Instead, Vancouver reimagined each tract with a unique identity: One has basketball hoops; another is a performance venue and art installation. Officials in Vancouver estimate the program could add 30 percent more pedestrian space in the downtown core, and some lanes are seeing more than double the traffic. If done in Denver, it could replace sketchy alleyways with inviting entertainment that might encourage more movement across downtown.
