Promoting Economic Well-being among the Poor through Micro- Enterprise Initiatives in the United States

8001 Natural Bridge Road St. Louis, Missouri 63121-4499 Most American municipalities that incorporated prior to 1930, regardless of population size or geographic region, contain a downtown district. These traditional downtowns usually constituted the community’s retail hub, featured a highdensity walkable setting, and were at the center of community and civic life. The decades following World War II, however, were hard on American downtowns due in large part to massive suburbanization, highway construction, and increased mobility. Starting in the 1960s and continuing through today, most cities – large and small – have been actively engaged in downtown development.