Downtown's Resilience Strategy Takes Shape: What We Heard at Community Hour
On May 27, dozens of Downtown stakeholders gathered at Revival Asheville for a Community Hour centered on the Downtown Business Resilience Strategy — a planning effort led by Asheville Downtown Improvement District and the Asheville Downtown Association in partnership with Public Sphere Projects (PSP), a national planning and placemaking consultancy.
The room was full of business owners, property owners, and community partners who showed up with opinions, ideas, and a shared investment in Downtown's future. That energy matters, and so does what came out of the conversation.
PSP's Dillon Goodson and Olivia Graham walked attendees through seven months of community engagement — including over 600 responses to the Downtown Stakeholder Survey and numerous roundtables and interviews — and shared a set of draft project recommendations rooted in what they heard.
The proposals span three focus areas: public policy, programming, and placemaking. On the placemaking side, PSP presented a vision for activating the Wall Street plaza and stairway corridor with lighting, seating, vendor space, and live music — building on momentum from the Ginkgo Marketplace and the new mural currently in production, as well as Explore Asheville’s signage project for Wall Street.
Other pilot projects could include a construction mitigation program would help businesses navigate the disruption of upcoming streetscape projects, including the Coxe Avenue Streetscape Project. A technical assistance program would connect Downtown businesses with professional expertise in areas like leasing, operations, and marketing.
On the programming side, the recommendations call for expanded storytelling and engagement initiatives that spotlight Downtown's diverse histories and businesses. The Fabric of Downtown campaign, which launched May 1, is already an example of this work in motion. PSP also presented a vision for reopening the public corridor at 29 Haywood Street as a pedestrian hub and community information point — a project ADID has been actively pursuing with the City. Rounding out the proposals: a framework for community event incentives that would lower barriers for organizations and businesses to activate Downtown public spaces.
These are draft recommendations, not final decisions. PSP will refine them based on feedback from this event and ongoing conversations. The next phase of work focuses on implementation planning — determining what gets piloted, in what order, and how impact will be measured. You can view the presentation here.
