The 15 Minute Project - Please join us
In 2023 the Downtown Neighbors Alliance (DNA) introduced the 15-Minute Project to Pittsburgh to further the revitalization of Downtown around the concept of the 15-minute neighborhood, where folks can walk or bike to get everything they need outside of work in 15 minutes.
For those who have never heard of it, a 15-minute neighborhood is an active, safe, walkable, convenient, mixed residential and retail neighborhood. A place where people can get most of their day-to-day goods and services - shopping with good food, access to transit, and parks - within a 15-minute walk. Downtown 15-minute neighborhoods have three basic characteristics: a walkable environment, destinations that support a range of basic living needs, and residential density.
Sustainability, recreating a sense of place and building a safe, welcoming community for the young and old alike can all be promoted as authentic advantages of bringing density back to Downtown Pittsburgh.
One component of this project is retail recruitment. DNA has developed a proven process to bring in unique businesses to create a downtown that will fill our needs. We are in discussions with two grocery stores among other businesses that are urban oriented. You cannot just go to a boutique owner and ask them to trust us that Downtown is doing great. They need proof. They want figures as to how many sales they can do per square foot. We have developed a retail store program that enables us to capture the data we need. DNA has also developed a database of empty storefronts that show, in real time, the availability of space downtown.
We have many more pieces to this plan that we will be sharing in the weeks ahead. We feel we are creating the 21st century paradigm and the next steps are to truly make Downtown Pittsburgh a neighborhood with many more amenities for our residents and businesses alike.
Residents are a large part of our plan. Where there are rooftops, shops and service are not far behind. This creates an up-cycle because the more amenities the community creates, the more residents will move into the neighborhood.
This is just a snapshot and not the full picture. If you would like to be a part of this team moving forward please contact us atinfo@pittsburghdna.org. Please join and support us as we move forward.
