A recently released study by the Gensler Research Institute starts out with something the Downtown Detroit Partnership has been saying for 104 years: “Downtown is the heartbeat of a thriving city.”
Dive deeper into the City Pulse 2026 report, and you find it delivers some very newsworthy and shareable headlines.
Detroit is the No. 1 stickiest city in North America, and we ranked No.1 for the Downtown experience.
Gensler’s Stickiness Score™ is a combined metric of the frequency of visits to a downtown area and the length of the typical stay. It’s important to note that the CityPulse data only considered visits by city residents, not by employees or visitors. Understanding that Detroit residents are enjoying their city’s amenities speaks volumes.
Sticky is great. And everyone knows that great experiences builds deep and lasting loyalty.
Gensler’s rankings are a true measure of the value of our Downtown and validation of the Downtown Detroit Partnership’s work and that of so many of our peer organizations around the city.
Survey Says
First launched in 2020, Gensler’s City Pulse has surveyed more than 150,000 urban residents, with the 2026 edition its largest, with 35,000 respondents across 133 business districts in 75 cities around the world.
This year’s edition is titled “The Magnetic City,” exploring several factors behind why a Downtown is successful (or not). They were on a mission to find out why people move to a city, and why they choose to stay. They found that residents are driven to stay in cities designed for emotional connection, vibrancy, and pride of place.
In other words, Detroit.
The survey explicitly points out that, “. . . improving the downtown experience is one of the most effective levers for strengthening a city’s brand, building a thriving economy, and ensuring population stability.”
Following the release of the survey, Sofia Song, global leader of cities research at Gensler’s Research Institute, and Antoine Bryant, managing director of Gensler’s Detroit office and former director of Planning & Development for the City of Detroit, released this blog, “What Detroit Gets Right About Downtown Recovery: Here’s what other cities can learn from its turnaround.”
Bryant credits the DDP and many of our programs as primary reasons for Downtown Detroit’s success. But it’s not just us.
It Takes a Village
While Bryant’s comments were an unsolicited and honest reaction to the DDP’s deep and lasting impact on the Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, we are one piece of the experience pie. The incredible work of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, Belle Isle Conservancy, Greektown Neighborhood Organization, and a host of others contribute to Detroit’s experience and stickiness factors. Ralph C. Wilson Centennial Park is quickly becoming a destination for all ages. The more we can offer Detroit residents, the more they will enjoy all our parks and public spaces.
We also learned that residents are more likely to perceive their downtown as vibrant where these five attributes are present.
- After-hours activation
- Attractiveness
- Activities and events
- Good lighting
- A sense of personal safety
The same holds true for visitors outside of Detroit. That’s why these five areas are all part of the DDP’s scope of work and mission to cultivate social and economic impact in Detroit. (Read more in the DDP’s recently released 2025 Impact Report: Advancing Detroit through Partnerships, Planning, and Placemaking.)
Sticking Together
All our like-minded organizations are working with limited funds, this includes not just the nonprofits referenced above but others such as Midtown Detroit Inc., Live 6 Alliance, and Corktown Neighborhood Association. How do we maintain the momentum? How do we provide the very best experience in the most efficient way possible?
One way would be to create an alignment strategy that would pull many back-of-house and maintenance activities under one roof. Could there be shared services? Could we find ways to consolidate behind-the-curtain activities without jeopardizing each organization’s identity?
I believe the answer is “yes.” And, we could ask our partners to building up a public-space fund to support future efforts but only if we do our part to reduce costs.
Downtown Detroit is in the spotlight. Next week, we will welcome over 650 place-makers and urban planners for International Placemaking Week. This year, the lessons we’ve learned in Detroit, the initiatives we champion, and our collective expertise in urban innovation will be topics of conversation. Maybe next year, this group will be discussing how Detroit figured out how to achieve further greatness by “sticking” together.
