Mickey Poandl, 32, says the appeal of living downtown comes from its busy atmosphere. “I moved to Asheville from Washington, D.C., and I kind of missed the more urban, walkable lifestyle,” says Poandl, a public relations manager for Explore Asheville. “I went downtown a lot for the Black Lives Matters campaigns [in 2020], and I really liked the feeling of being with people and being a part of something. I thought that living downtown would be the perfect way to get more involved.”