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Chapter 1
Bringing Downtowns Back to Life
This chapter introduces the main arguments of the book. It starts with a discussion of the problems faced by downtowns and then makes a distinction between the special characteristics of small- and large-city downtowns, arguing for a different approach to addressing the issues of small-city downtowns. The National Main Street program’s four-point approach to downtown revitalization is also discussed, noting the shortcomings of the program and suggesting a need for a new approach that builds on the success of the four-decades-old four-point program using what the author dubbed the en-“RICHED” approach to downtown revitalization. This acronym refers to the strategy of increasing the downtown residential (R) population by attracting non-traditional households, and new immigrants (I), retaining and increasing the number of civic and cultural (C) uses in the downtown, promoting heritage (HE) tourism, and improving the physical quality of the downtown through design (D) and placemaking.
Discussion Questions
- Should the strategies for revitalizing small-city downtowns differ from those of large cities?
- Are there universally applicable principles for downtown revitalization?
- When a city provides incentives for only businesses in the downtown, does that privilege downtown businesses over other businesses in the city and is this fair?
- How do demographic trends affect the development of your city? Are these viewed as positive or negative for the development of the downtown?
Chapter 2
Historical and Regional Context of the Resilient Downtowns
Chapter 2 provides the historical and regional context of the fourteen cities that are used as case studies in the book. A brief historical account is given of the development of the five geographic regions of the United States and of the cities that are selected for the resilience of their downtowns. The discussion focuses on the ascendance of the downtowns, the factors that contributed to their decline, and the current efforts and programs to resuscitate the downtowns and bring them back to health.
Discussion Questions
- Are the boundaries for your city clearly identifiable?
- What is it that differentiates the downtown from other neighborhoods in your city?
- What was the catalyst that precipitated the redevelopment of your city’s downtown?
Chapter 3
Cultivating Downtown Living
Recent and future demographic trends favor downtown living in small cities. This is due to the growth of non-traditional families. This demographic cohort is made up of single-person households, retirees, double income no kids (DINK) households, and young professionals. The chapter discusses how cities with resilient downtowns are capitalizing on this trend to boost their downtown residential population. Census data on the demographic shifts in the downtowns of these communities is analyzed to show the growth of this population cohort in the downtowns of the case-study cities. More importantly, the strategies that the cities are using to attract and keep these households in the downtown are given special attention. Such strategies include enhancing safety of the downtown, changing the image of the downtown, relaxing strict development regulations, and providing incentives to developers to encourage the repurposing of older buildings into residential uses.
Discussion Questions
- Has your city conducted a housing needs assessment for your downtown?
- What opportunities exist for attracting empty nesters and the creative class to live in your city’s downtown?
- What are some of the impediments to downtown living?
- What can cities do to encourage more people to live downtown?
Chapter 4
Courting New Immigrants
Resilient downtowns are found in cities that are tolerant and accepting of diversity. As a result, they are able to attract immigrants and people of diverse backgrounds and orientations, which help to enrich their downtowns. Data on the foreign-born population in these cities and their downtowns is used as a proxy for measuring tolerance and diversity. The role of new immigrants and their contribution to repopulating downtown and near downtown neighborhoods of the resilient downtowns is discussed. The conditions that help to attract new immigrants and the approaches used by the case-study cities to attract a diverse population is narrated to provide examples of how other cities can utilize this strategy to revitalize their downtowns.
Discussion Questions
- Is your city attracting new immigrants? If so what is the city doing to attract them, where are they coming from and where are they settling in the city?
- How are immigrants contributing to the development of your city and its downtown?
- If your city is not putting in any efforts to attract immigrants, why isn’t your city pursuing new immigrants?
Chapter 5
Downtowns as Civic and Cultural Centers
Downtowns have been the historical locations for civic and cultural facilities. These include courthouses, museums, sports stadia and the performing arts. Over time and in the last couple of decades these facilities have followed the outmigration of the middle class to the suburbs and contributed to depleting the daytime population of downtowns. In this chapter, a discussion of some of the innocuous government policies that have aided the decentralization of civic and cultural amenities from the downtown is discussed. Then examples are provided of how successful cities have retained and attracted some of these uses back to the downtown as part of their revitalization strategy.
Discussion Questions
- What civic amenities are located in your city’s downtown?
- Are these civic amenities dwindling in number or are they increasing in number within the downtown? What accounts for this trend?
- Is there any proactive effort by the city to attract and keep these uses in the downtown?
Chapter 6
Historic Preservation and Heritage Tourism
Downtowns are rich with heritage and harbor many of the historic buildings of a community. While many cities pursue historic preservation as a strategy, this is rarely linked to heritage and cultural tourism. As one of the fastest-growing industries, cities can capitalize on heritage tourism to increase the daytime population of downtowns and provide the customer base for retail and other businesses that are located in the downtown. Thus this chapter makes the case for linking historic preservation and heritage tourism as a downtown revitalization strategy. Some examples from the resilient downtowns are discussed to show how this approach is being used to help revitalize downtowns.
Discussion Questions
- Does your city have a historic preservation ordinance?
- Would you say this is a strong or weak ordinance?
- What is the relationship between the historic preservation office and the tourism bureau?
- Is there an effort by the city to use its heritage resources to promote tourism?
Chapter 7
Designing Resilient Downtowns
This chapter discusses design and placemaking as an important element of a downtown revitalization strategy. Cities that create quality downtowns in the revitalization process are also able to attract high-income residents to the downtown, bring visitors that spend money on downtown businesses, and increase private sector investment in the downtown. The key elements of a redesigned downtown that foster a quality environment are discussed. They include: quality public places, a central community gathering place that brings people together for socialization, a sense of place that is unique and differentiates the downtown from other neighborhoods, pedestrian friendliness, propinquity to downtown amenities, and a mix of uses.
Discussion Questions
- Does your city have design guidelines for the downtown?
- Is there a public gathering place for the community and is this in the downtown?
- Is the public gathering place actively used by residents? If not, why not?
- Which of the design features discussed in this chapter are applicable to your city?
Chapter 8
Economic Distress and Downtown Revitalization
One factor that is constant in the life of downtowns is disruption. This takes several forms, including economic recessions, globalization, and the decentralization of economic activity to fringe locations. Successful downtowns take disruptions as a given and hence anticipate and prepare to withstand them. Because of this, they are able to bounce back from such interruptions and that is what makes them resilient. This chapter discusses the impacts of the recent recession on the health of downtowns and how the resilient downtowns managed to mute these impacts and successfully bounce back from the economic turmoil.
Discussion Questions
- How did the recent recession affect your downtown?
- What role did the public and private sector play in helping downtown businesses during the recession?
- What initiatives were implemented during the recession by these sectors?
Chapter 9
Downtown Alive!
To understand the reasons why the case-study cities have resilient downtowns, a first-person account is provided from downtown managers and civic leaders from the cities explaining what it is that makes their downtowns resilient. Thereafter a discussion of the factors that contribute to the resilience of downtowns is provided and the need for an expanded downtown revitalization approach beyond the National Main Street four-point program is to be provided. How this is to be accomplished using the “en-RICHED” strategy is then detailed and a resilient scorecard of the factors that foster this strategy of downtown revitalization is enumerated so that other cities can gauge the extent to which their downtowns are resilient. Finally, the institutional framework for implementing downtown programs with examples from the resilient downtowns is outlined.
Discussion Questions
- What is the organizational structure for downtown redevelopment in your city?
- Using the scorecard provided in this chapter, how resilient would say is your downtown?
- What are the areas that you think your downtown needs to work on to improve its resilience?