City Transformed: Downtown Denver Walking Tour
August 16, 2025
About the tour: This two-hour walking tour explores Downtown Denver Historic District from an urban planning and development perspective. Discover 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 will be 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 the Urban Design Program Director at CU Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning. His areas of interest and expertise include land use and transportation, data visualization and graphic design, urban design, infill development, and Denver’s urban planning and development history. 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.
Accessibility: The tour is approximately a two-hour walk through Downtown Denver. Our tour will begin at the corner of 14th & Larimer in the plaza next to the CU Denver Building. Please wear comfortable shoes, bring water and dress for the weather.
Student Tickets: Student tickets must be purchased using an active student/school email address.
Refund policy: The Denver Architecture Foundation is a nonprofit educational organization. Ticket sales support the Foundation in continuing to provide quality events to the public. We are unable to provide refunds or credits for any reason less than 48 hours prior to the event.
Please note that DAF tours take place rain, snow or shine. If your tour includes an outdoor portion, please dress for the weather. DAF staff will contact all attendees directly should a tour be cancelled for any reason.
Photo Credit: Photo by Noel Aph