Is "downtown revitalization" a code phrase for "we're losing all our business to the big box stores"?

How can small box retail compete with big box retail, anyway? Your consultant seems to be thinking you should turn your downtown into something like a shopping mall. Is that the best strategy?

The old urban cores were built under the assumption that people could live, work and shop all in the same area. That's still a great idea. What does your local downtown revitalization project do to accomplish that? Or have they thought about it at all?