Places
Exceptional public spaces should be a fundamental aspect of Downtown Raleigh’s identity. Elevating our greenspaces and plazas will create more engaging spaces that bring people to downtown everyday. These recommendations call for more investment in our public spaces and a clearer definition of the use and purpose of each space to better maximize opportunities for play, exercise, rest, and engagement.
Energize the Core
Our downtown core is disconnected from recent investments in other districts and lacks some of the color and vibrancy of newer neighborhoods. Prioritizing street activity and improving connections to nearby attractions will attract new and different audiences.
The earlier Downtown Raleigh Economic Development Strategy document - Activating the Downtown Core - laid out a mix of retail strategies, physical improvements, programming and policies for activating Fayetteville Street and the surrounding streets to create new and varied experiences to attract new businesses, residents and visitors.
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More vibrancy can be realized at the street level through providing flexibility on activations and uses.
Exceptional Public Places
Often lauded as the City of Oaks, Raleigh has a strong legacy of building world class public places and parks. This plan seeks opportunities to improve our public realm and create spaces and places that encourage play and provide respite and rejuvenation for residents and visitors alike. In particular, this strategy calls for clearly delineating the use and purpose of each greenspace and plaza in downtown so placemaking investment can be steered strategically. For example, Market Plaza can be oriented towards exercise, while Moore Square leans more into play elements and kids activities to attract visitors to Marbles Kids Museum.
Add More Housing to the Core
Downtown Raleigh has added over 4,000 units in the past four years. But not enough of those units are within the Fayetteville Street district and the downtown core. Adding more people to the core would make this area less reliant on office and visitor traffic and create the daily activity that makes downtowns more vibrant. The study recommends several areas and strategies for adding more housing.
