David Peterson, Managing Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers, coined the

David Peterson, Managing Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers, coined the phrase “mix, mass, and mesh” to describe characteristics of the “24-hour city” that constitute safe and affordable places to work, play, and reside. The top U.S. real estate markets described as “24 hour cities” all have a downtown population of at least 20,000, retail sales of at least $200 million, access to transit (at least 10 percent of trips by public transportation), low crime, and a diversified tax base. The reason many redevelopment efforts fail, he claims, is because all the essential ingredients are not there (the mix), in sufficient amounts (the mass), or they are not sufficiently near each other (the mesh) to enable the intended changes to occur.