“Great cities have great downtowns.” This is the first line of SA2020’s section on downtown development, dubbed a key area of focus for the city’s future. It could be argued that downtown is already great—after all, it’s the main destination for more than 30 million annual visitors to San Antonio—but is it important that the city’s center transcend its reputation as “for tourists only” to be a truly great downtown?

In short, yes—at least according to a handful of local professors who study urban development. We are living in the “Age of Downtown,” says University of Texas San Antonio architecture professor Antonio Petrov, and San Antonio needs growth in this area to stay relevant. “Cities are positioning themselves in global competitions,” he says. “It’s not about regions or countries anymore, it’s a competition of cities. And the downtown sector is a large part of that competition.”

Unlike globally celebrated cities like Chicago or Boston, he says San Antonio has no real core. Instead, San Antonio is organized like a satellite city with many centers and many cores with things organized around them. “What does San Antonio have to offer to compete on that sort of scale?” he says. “All arrows point to the river.”

Tourism is one of the city’s biggest economic industries, employing one in eight San Antonians, according to a recent report from Visit San Antonio, and continues to thrive in the downtown area. Petrov says this should be celebrated. “Downtown tourism is something most other cities are trying to strengthen right now,” he says. “Los Angeles is investing billions of dollars to bring tourists. Why weaken something that is strong?”

He also says it’s not enough. Richard Tangum, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research at UTSA, agrees. “The health of this area is crucial to the economic vitality of the entire city. The city center has a multiplier effect,” he says. The River Walk is only one small (and arguably separate) part of downtown, and the discussion about what needs to change is complex.

Tangum calls housing one crucial downtown element. “We need more and a better range of housing options in the central city and within close proximity,” he says. “Right now we have a major housing deficiency.” Petrov echoes this and says population density downtown will drive business growth. “We’ve done studies,” he says, “that show people living downtown makes a difference in terms of return on investment. Once people are living there, they will demand more shops, restaurants, grocery stores.”

Christine Drennon, a professor of urban studies at Trinity University, agrees that growing business downtown will aid in its success—as long as it’s done in the right way. Instead of populating the urban core with chain stores and national brands, she says the city needs to invest in a diversity of people and businesses, including the ones already there. “Right now there are these little strip mall projects on East Houston Street where locally owned businesses are serving locals,” she says. “That is where people are trying to live the American dream.” It’s also the kind of dynamic that produces the unique and authentic shops and restaurants that draw people who live in other parts of the city to spend time downtown.

Drennon also says continuing to emphasize public space downtown is vital. “The other day, a Bach quartet set up in the Market Square and just started to play,” she says. “And people were reflecting on how important that sort of culture was for them. It only happens when you get density and a mixture of private and public space. That doesn’t happen in Pearl or La Cantera. That only happens downtown.”

Tangum says crafting a desirable downtown for locals is vital for its function as a hub for all citizens. Ideally, he says downtown would act as a melting pot, where people from all sections of the city would want to come together to interact.

Right now, he says, that’s not happening. “What disturbs me is that as San Antonio becomes more and more Balkanized, we’ve gotten higher income groups living in certain sectors, isolated from others,” he says. “A healthy city is where you see everything, and you’re a witness to all groups of people and all incomes. It produces a stronger city as a result. In other cities, that connection point for people is downtown.”

With an increase in population, San Antonio is poised for major growth. Experts agree that downtown will be an important part of that growth, but that leaders must be careful in how development is approached. “Are we creating frameworks for things to happen or masterminding everything?” Petrov asks. “Nobody is against making money, but San Antonio needs to be conscious to organically grow into this new city.”

For her part, Drennon fears a push for growth will disrupt the current economic ecosystems. “A lot of people say we need increased density and growth, but that needs to be a grander vision,” she says. “Who’s the vision for? The people creating the vision or the people who are already there?”

Five projects that will reshape downtown

Frost Bank Tower

Frost Bank broke ground in March on its 23-story, 460,000-square-foot office building. Slated to be completed in 2019, it will be the first major addition to the city’s skyline in more than 25 years.

Hemisfair Park

Locals are already enjoying Yanaguana Gardens, the first piece of the revamping of the 96-acre space, originally home to the 1968 World’s Fair. Future phases will include additional parks, building residential housing and adding more shops.

San Pedro Creek Improvement Project

The first of four phases is underway to transform a 2.2 mile stretch of San Pedro Creek into a natural creek habitat and park. Several developers have submitted proposals to the city to build everything from hotels to shops along the soon-to-be revamped section of the creek.

Alamo Plaza Restoration Project

This major renovation will attempt to restore the site to its original look. The project also includes transforming the old federal building into a world-class history museum and rerouting some roads to eliminate traffic noise.

Broadway Street Corridor

Part of a bond proposition on May’s ballot, the project would reconstruct Broadway from East Houston to Hildebrand with curbs, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, drainage and traffic improvements.