I have used the wrong terms when saying that the American Tobacco Historic District is a massive revitalization for Downtown Durham.

This project does not revitalize Durham's traditional downtown area. More accurately, it has created a new downtown for Durham, complete with a central park, the newly landscaped center campus with its stunning water feature.

To characterize this endeavor as a plan to fix up some old buildings so they could be available for rent would be totally out of character. No, this effort preserved a part of both North Carolina and Durham's history.

In the old countries of Europe, bulldozers don't raze structures that are centuries old. People live, work and play in these timeless buildings. History is not necessarily taught from one generation to the next, it is lived from one generation to the next.

This can now be true for these buildings erected in Durham, many of them more than a century ago. They were built with a style and craftsmanship that can teach us much about creating spaces for working, living and playing that enhance the quality of life, not necessarily the quantity of life.

Significant is the creation of the center campus with landscaping around the preserved, famous Lucky Strike water tower and the creation of the rapidly flowing river from the old coal shed to the south end of the Historic District. This "Central Park" illustrates the harmony of form and function, providing an arena for life-enriching cultural events. It will also be a place for a variety of festivals, activities that will enrich the lives of Durham's citizens in this new Downtown.

It's a place where Petula Clark's lyrics and harmony give new meaning to the song, "Downtown."

The harmony for this new Downtown and its Central Park reaches beyond the melodies of a song; this is a harmony for life as it was meant to be, Downtown.