Phoenix wins participation trophy for best downtown

This Thursday, Phoenix will be recognized for its efforts in community and city planning by receiving a participation trophy for “Best Downtown” from the National Alliance for Emerging Metropolises (NAEM). The award highlights the city’s ongoing attempts to revitalize its urban core, which has been reshaped by largely vacant high-rise condos, transient dirt lots where functioning neighborhoods once stood, and a proliferation of brewpubs and “Scottsdale-style” Mexican restaurants. While not yet on par with the downtowns of cities like Portland or Chicago, Phoenix continues to strive toward fostering a vibrant cultural and business district, but still struggles to carve out a distinctive character in the American ethos. Progress remains to establish the center of this rapidly expanding metropolis as a center of culture and connection. The trophy will be presented at the American Urban Development Conference in an unmarked office building somewhere in midtown.