Revitalizing downtown Harrisburg has become a major focus for local and regional leaders, who say the health of the capital city’s core affects far more than the city limits.

Leaders from the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and Capital Region Economic Development Corporation and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center say the future of downtown will depend on understanding how residents, workers, and visitors see the area today—and what they want it to become.

“Downtown really is that heart, that hub,” said Julie Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. “We see how integral the health of the heart of our communities really is.”

Fitzpatrick said the strength of a downtown can shape the well-being of the surrounding region because it serves as a gathering place for economic activity, culture, and identity.

“And so much of what is happening in the greater region is really connected to what’s happening in our downtowns,” she said.

The conversation about downtown Harrisburg has evolved in recent years as cities across the country adapt to the shift toward remote and hybrid work.

Ryan Unger, president and CEO of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and Capital Region Economic Development Corporation, said the capital city historically depended heavily on office workers.

“For Harrisburg, we were a downtown economy that for years—at the very least the last 50 to 60 years—was centered around an office worker downtown,” Unger said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 30,000 people worked in downtown Harrisburg. Today, Unger said the city sees roughly 7,000 fewer workers on an average day.

At first glance, that change might not seem dramatic, but the impact adds up quickly.

“Over the course of a year, you’re talking about 1.8 million worker days,” Unger said.

That drop in daily foot traffic affects more than office buildings. It ripples through hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and everyday services that rely on people being downtown.

“You impact those businesses, they have less foot traffic,” Unger said. “The restaurants, the bars, but also the laundromat, the pharmacy, the grocery store—there’s less people.”

Because of that, he said the challenge now is figuring out how to attract people back into downtown in new ways.

“We need to figure a way out—how do we bring back foot traffic?” Unger said. “And that can be in a host of different ways.”

Part of the answer may lie in rethinking Harrisburg’s identity and how the city promotes itself.

Fitzpatrick said revitalization efforts often focus on both image—how outsiders view a place—and identity, or how residents and business owners experience it.

“Having that identity is really what we hang our hat on,” she said.

For Harrisburg, that identity includes assets beyond its role as Pennsylvania’s capital city. Fitzpatrick pointed to the Susquehanna River and riverfront as major features that many communities would envy.

“We have an amazing river and riverfront that communities would give their firstborn to have,” she said.

To better understand how people perceive downtown today, local leaders have launched the Downtown Harrisburg Perception Survey.

The survey, available online at hbgsurvey.com, is intended to gather feedback from a wide range of people who interact with the city.

“We want to set a baseline for the work that we’re doing,” Unger said.

The results will help guide future revitalization strategies and measure progress over time.

“It allows businesses and residents and visitors to weigh in on what their perception currently is of downtown, but also what they would like to see,” Unger said.

The survey is designed to be inclusive and reflect a broad set of voices across the region.

“We want everyone to weigh in,” Unger said. “Downtown is not something that’s just for residents or just for visitors or just for workers—it’s for all of those things.”

Responses will help leaders identify priorities, early action items, and potential projects that could shape the future of downtown Harrisburg.

“We want to make sure that we have a downtown that we can all be proud of as a region,” Unger said.