1 . Twenty years ago, the Urban Land Institute defined the two types of cities that dominated the US landscape: smaller cities that operated around standard 9-5 business hours and large metropolitan areas that ran all 24 hours of the day.

In recent years, many mid-sized cities have begun to adopt a middle-of-the-road approach incorporating the excitement and opportunity of large cities with small cities’ quiet after midnight.     1     What is underlying this new movement in real estate, and why do these cities have so much appeal?

18-hour cities combine the best of 24-hour and 9-5 cities, which contributes to downtown revitalization. For decades, many downtown cores in small to mid-sized cities were abandoned after work hours by workers who lived in the suburbs.     2     This generated little commerce for downtown businesses in the evenings, which made business and generating tax revenue for municipal upkeep difficult. With the rise of a new concept in urban planning that aims to make life easier and more convenient, however, increasing popularity for urban areas that caused the real estate pushes, in major cities like San Francisco or New York, has inspired a type of forward-thinking urbanity in smaller cities.

Transforming downtown areas so that they incorporate modern housing and improved walkability to local restaurants, retail, and entertainment — especially when combined with improved infrastructure for cyclists and public transit — makes them appeal to a more affluent demographic.     3     Access to foot traffic and proximity to transit allow the type of entertainment-oriented businesses such as bars and restaurants to stay open later, which attracts both younger, creative workers and baby boomers, nearing retirement alike.

These 18-hour cities are rapidly on the rise and offer great opportunities for homeowner investment. In many of these cities such as Denver, a diverse and vigorous economy attracted to the urban core has offered stable employment for residents.     4