ABSTRACT
The propensity that downtowns have for accommodating cultural diversity has been noted by Eugenie Birch, faicp, of the University of Pennsylvania. She has researched demographic changes in the down- towns of more than 40 cities over a 30-year period. For the past 20 years, San Diego, through its Centre City Development Corporation, has promoted Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing as a means of getting people off the street. Between 1970 and 1985, more than 1,200 SRO units were demolished within and around downtown San Diego. A few years ago, Oakland-based architect Michael Pyatok began working on a residential project a few blocks away from downtown on the edge of the city's Chinatown. There is a weekly farmers market on one of the adjacent streets and on those days the place feels like an exotic bazaar, with sights and smells and food and music brought in by people from dozens of different cultures.
