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What makes people choose to come downtown—and come back more often?
Downtown is a city’s front door. The experience people have there shapes their impression of the entire city. Gensler found that people who rate their downtown highly are nearly 75% more likely to say their city overall is a great place to be—a powerful reminder that downtown helps define how people experience San Jose.
The Chamber recently joined Gensler and the San Jose Downtown Association to host Creating the Magnetic Downtown, featuring new findings from Gensler’s City Pulse 2026 research and a conversation with business, civic, development and cultural leaders.
Three takeaways: San Jose already has the ingredients for a magnetic downtown. Now we need to pull them together—turning major events into longer downtown experiences; creating consistent activity on an ordinary Tuesday, not just event days; and better connecting our sports, entertainment, cultural and convention assets through sustained public-private collaboration.
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