Retire Downtown: The Lifestyle Destination for Active Retirees and Empty Nesters »

Kyle Ezell is the founder of Get Urban America, a Columbus, Ohio-based urban planning firm dedicated to teaching the urban lifestyle to Americans, a predominantly suburban culture. Kyle is a trained cultural geographer and a nationally known certified city planner, and teaches downtown housing courses for the Ohio State University's City and Regional Planning Program. Numerous newspaper and television media have interviewed Kyle as an expert on revitalizing cities, and he is the author of Get Urban! The Complete Guide to City Living (Capital Books, 2004). He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Fountain of youth discovered...downtown

You see them on the sidewalks of downtowns across the nation. They wear worn-looking T-shirts, sip coffee and listen to the latest Deathcab song on their iPods. They shop local markets, attend music festivals, and frequent the hippest restaurants. They're cool, all right. They've retired downtown.

Introducing the first official Ruppie Handbook: Retire Downtown: The Lifestyle Destination for Active Retirees and Empty Nesters. Ruppies - Retired Urban People - want to stay active and vibrant in their maturing years. These revved-up retirees and energetic empty nesters are shedding their suburban shackles and downsizing to smaller digs, and Retire Downtown is the perfect introduction to the exciting lifestyle that awaits downtown.

In Retire Downtown, author and renowned city planner Kyle Ezell identifies 20 of America's best downtowns, targeting dozens of great retirement neighborhoods, and presents detailed information on:

Living: Find stylish, convenient housing that enables independent living in retirement years

Volunteering: Change your surroundings, yourself, and even the world

Playing: Find fabulous hangouts and exciting everyday things to do

Shopping: Live like a European, even in Midwestern USA

Getting around: Detailed instructions on transportation in your urban environment

Forget pills or plastic surgery. Being connected to a community - a vivacious, eclectic community, filled with different people, exciting places, and myriad opportunities for activity, entertainment, and growth - is the key to staying young.