News from the Top: Wrapping Up a Decade

Tami Door, President and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership serves as Chair of the International Downtown Association’s (IDA) Board of Directors. Tami offers her expertise in city building to members of IDA in her monthly News from the Top column.

Here we are – not just at the end of another year, but at the end of another decade. Though ten years seems to have flown by, it’s amazing to think how much has changed. At the start of 2010, smartphones and apps like Uber had barely started to emerge (Instagram had not even launched yet). Our country was climbing out of a recession, and the future of our cities was unclear.

There is a lot to look back on in the last decade. Changes in how we see and manage our cities. Challenges we hadn’t planned for. Successes we worked diligently to achieve.

As we enter a new year – and a new decade – it is more important than ever that we, as citybuilders, think, plan, and act boldly and with resiliency at the top of our minds.  The next decade will bring another set of changes, challenges, and successes – some we won’t be able to predict. We must develop solid plans that lay the groundwork for continuing to grow vibrant, well-connected cities and districts. We need to challenge the status quo when it comes to making our cities inclusive, building innovative infrastructure, and tackling tough issues like homelessness and sustainability.

Above all, we must continue to band together to learn from and support one another in our work. I am consistently inspired and impressed by IDA members and I am confident that, if it’s up to us, our cities are bound for great things in 2020 and beyond.