So, what would happen if JEDC allowed a group to come in and look at downtown and provide a vision of what it could be, if Jacksonville allowed itself to think outside of the box. To be able to lay down the gauntlet and want to truly become a vibrant city, to not just accept mediocrity and stucco high rises, because that’s how it’s always been.

Revitalizing a downtown doesn’t happen by just planting palm trees down an unshaded, unwalkable street. It means rethinking what that street needs to be, what it connects to, and who uses it. “Make a Scene Downtown”, an event to show people interacting at street level should not have been kicked off on rooftop of a parking garage.

And of course, this is only a small portion of what’s wrong with how the revitalization of downtown is going. We have a library that has absolutely no interaction with the pedestrian at street level, but it has an underused rooftop garden.

Of course, all you have to do is click over to Metro Jacksonville, to really start to delve into more downtown issues, we’re really not the website for that. But after seeing the video below, “Picture a City,” prepared by squint/opera for the city of Bradford, Yorkshire, we felt excited, and yet a little angry about our City. The video, commissioned by Bradford Centre Regeneration shows the masterplans provided by Alsop Architects, is brilliant in it’s imagination, and production.

What if this city were Jacksonville?