Survey Results
The first step towards improvements to the downtown experience was to understand how people felt about the current downtown and see their vision for the future. Through surveys, interviews and street observations, the project team gained valuable insight into what’s working and not working downtown today, and where we should go from here.
This insight changed the project mindset from a revitalization effort to an opportunity for cultivation - and launched the team towards the creation of initial concepts for the heart of Lincoln, and see the future of downtown in a whole new way. Read more about the process and findings below.
Who we heard from.
Downtown Residents
People who live within our project site or its surrounding area.
Surveys
In-depth Interviews
Business Owners
People who own or manage businesses within our project site, and people who own local business outside of downtown to gain contrasting perspective.
Surveys
In-depth Interviews
Corridor Avoiders
People who actively avoid our project site, or downtown Lincoln all together.
In-depth Interviews
Corridor Frequenters
People who frequent our project site including shoppers, event-goers and employees of downtown.
Surveys
In-depth Interviews
Research methods.
Culture Mining
Mined secondary literature on the role of downtowns in other cities around the world relevant to Lincoln.
Conducted over 10 hours of street observation of downtown Lincoln across different days and times specific to this initiative.
Quantitative Surveys
Surveyed 261 people who visit downtown Lincoln including O St, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th - 27th more than once in the past six months.
Surveyed 61 managers and owners who have a business in downtown Lincoln including O St, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th – 27th .
In-Depth Interviews
Conducted 12 interviews with local business owners and managers.
Conducted 10 interviews with Lincoln residents.
Conducted 8 key city stakeholder interviews.
Watch the complete findings presentation.
“People want to go where there’s energy. I’ve seen the creators and makers of a community have more vision, even a better sense of what could work, than developers who tend to have a ‘build it and they will come’ approach. That may work in the suburbs, but you need more than money to make it work downtown.”
— Owner, Haymarket Business
Key Insights
Each of the four key insights fits within the placemaking framework, laying the groundwork for where Lincoln wants to be.
Core Creators
The makers, entrepreneurs and innovators of Lincoln bring a different perspective to creating new spaces for artists and bring energy to places where people will want to be.
“Was just talking about how sad the downtown is sometimes. Lots of buildings but no clue if there is anything useful or interesting in them... way too student focused. Find myself going for one thing and leaving immediately... would love more local small businesses, shops, galleries, restaurants, etc. [to find and explore].”
— Respondent, Consumer Survey
Community Ecosystem
Celebrate the variety of existing businesses and experiences, and create new spaces in the “dead zones” to offer a continuous discovery of something new every step of the way.
“There’s so many vacant buildings too, on that strip…. a lot of them look pretty nice and they're just empty and they’ve been empty forever. There’s one on O street, I think, that’s a beautiful building and it’s huge and I’m pretty sure it’s 90% completely empty. I’m just like, ‘What's going on here?’”
- Owner, Corridor Business
Design Gravity
Create interesting spaces to make any downtown destination worth the walk.
“So when you ask is the walk pleasurable, it’s not necessarily a bad pedestrian walk. There’s sidewalks. There’s perfectly functioning lights and crosswalks and the traffic isn’t terrible… and it’s fairly pedestrian friendly… but there’s just nothing to do. There’s no place to go.”
— Haley, Lincoln Resident
Connected Aesthetic
Create a feeling or moment connecting downtown to the rest of the city that says, “this is Lincoln”.
“It's nice to see that people want to put some energy back into downtown. I’m looking forward to it being a place I want to go, instead of an area I actively avoid.”
— Respondent
“Urban development and improvement is vital to community health and a thriving local economy. However, it needs to be driven by local residents and local small businesses AND by those who may typically be marginalized from the area. Grassroots organization to make decisions is key to success.”
— Respondent, Consumer Survey