Recap: City Transformed Tour – Denver’s Central Business District

About the tour: On Sunday, July 15, 2018, this two-hour walking tour explored Denver’s Central Business District from an urban planning and development perspective. We discovered how downtown Denver grew and expanded from its early 19th century roots to the modern high-rise city of today and how major interventions like the Skyline urban renewal project in the 1970s, the 16th Street Mall in the 1980s, the Colorado Convention Center and Light Rail in the 1990s, and dozens of infill developments since 2000 have shaped the core of downtown. Special focus was given to the 43 buildings that make up the Downtown Denver Historic District and how historic preservation and adaptive reuse have preserved many of downtown’s most important and iconic historic structures.

About the guide: Ken Schroeppel is an Assistant Professor CTT in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program at CU Denver where he lectures on the historical growth and development of Denver among other topics. Ken is very active in Denver’s planning and development communities. He is a member of the Denver Architectural Foundation board of directors, where he helps organize the popular Doors Open Denver and Box City programs, and is involved with other professional and advocacy organizations such as the Downtown Denver Partnership, Urban Land Institute, American Planning Association, Union Station Advocates, and YIMBY Denver. Ken is possibly best known as the founder and chief editor of the popular DenverInfill and DenverUrbanism blogs, which offer news, ideas, and commentary on infill development and other aspects of sustainable urbanism in the Mile High City.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Dravitz Photography.