What cities can learn from Disney World

Concentrated ownership could help downtowns recover

I was thinking about Disney World and Disney Land recently as inspirations for urban developments, because while a big part of the appeal of these places is obviously the characters and the rides, it’s also the case that people¹ seem to enjoy spending time there.

Disney theme parks are, of course, not real cities, but they have city-like characteristics that are worth thinking about. One of the most noteworthy, it seems to me, is that they have a single giant landlord who is in charge of the whole thing, which is not what actual urban neighborhoods are like, but which has a kind of compelling logic.