Downtown Revitalization

[Greg Brown <gregb@alaskapacific.edu>]

Visionaries:

   There has been some discussion on downtown revitalization.
I've excerpted from an article that focused on downtown
revitalization in smaller communities like Moscow.  The
excerpt contains a discussion of successful strategies.  I'll
let you chew on this before weighing in.



Excerpt from "Can Small-City Downtowns Remain Viable? A National Study
of Development Issues and Strategies."  By: Robertson, Kent A..,
Journal of the American Planning Association, Summer99, Vol. 65,
Issue 3, p270, 14p, 6 charts, 4bw


Reinforce Downtown's Sense of Place

Characteristics related to a strong sense of place, such as waterfronts
and older architecture, were rated highly among downtown's greatest
assets (see Table 3). Downtown's traditional role as a regional center
for
economic, government, cultural, and community-related activities
supplies
the foundation upon which the current sense of place can be established.

The downtown possesses the building blocks to furnish a distinctive and
unique setting that offers a refreshing alternative to the anonymity of
place--the "nowhere syndrome" described by
Kunstler(1993)--characteristic
of much of America's built environment. The national trend towards
retrofitting
centerlesssuburbs with main streets and town centers demonstrates the
importance of a discernible place (Jouzaitis, 1998;Lockwood, 1997).
It logically follows, therefore, that cities would take advantage of the

heritage, architecture, tradition, and natural setting intrinsic to
downtown
to reestablish and enhance the distinctiveness of downtown.

Four strategies closely related to a sense of place ranked high in the
survey
both in terms of utility and level of effectiveness: historic
preservation,
Main Street approach, pedestrianization improvements, and waterfront
development.

Historic preservation. Virtually all small-city downtowns possess a
stock of older commercial buildings not to be found elsewhere in the
city or surrounding region. Renovation of these structures exerts a
tremendously positive impact on downtown's sense of place. It is not
surprising, therefore, that historic preservation was used in all but
seven of the downtowns surveyed, making it the most popular
strategy (see Table 4). In terms of success, it ranked 7th out of 16
strategies. To help facilitate preservation activity, Auburn, Bangor,
and Carson City provided financial incentives through low-interest,
revolving loan funds. In Auburn and Carson City, design guidelines
have been established with which recipients of facade loans must
comply; the guidelines are voluntary for others. Bangor
passed a facade ordinance in the 1980s that applies to all downtown
properties. The lack of any type of design guidelines or preservation
ethic in Texarkana has contributed to a downtown with few privately
renovated buildings and a large number of older commercial buildings
hidden behind unattractive aluminum facades.

Main Street approach. The Main Street approach, established by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation and coordinated by its
National Main Street Center, constitutes a popular downtown
redevelopment
strategy for small towns and cities. To be effective, this approach
requires a community to commit to a balanced application of four
principles: organization of downtown interests, design that enhances
visual qualities and the built environment, promotion and marketing,
and economic restructuring and diversification (Dane, 1997). This
approach was used in 44 of the 57 cities surveyed, although a much
smaller number were officially affiliated with the National Main
Street Center. Moreover, the Main Street approach was the most
successful strategy in the survey (see Table 5). Except for Wausau,
the surveys for each case study indicated the use of this approach.
While
the principles of the Main Street approach were clearly in evidence to
varying degrees in Auburn, Bangor, and Texarkana, only Carson
City has had an actual Main Street program in existence. Carson City
Mainstreet, incorporated in 1989 as a private nonprofit organization,
helped to organize, promote, and draw attention to downtown; it
ultimately
merged into the Chamber of Commerce in 1995 where its role has
been diminished.

Pedestrianization improvements. A sense of place is best experienced
on foot. Consequently, cities have engaged in efforts to make downtown
more pedestrian friendly. Pedestrianization improvements rated high
in both use and success. The most common technique for achieving
this goal is to implement streetscape improvements (e.g.,flowers, trees,

benches, human-scaled lights, attractive pavement, banners) to soften
the
downtown environment and encourage people to linger. This was
evident in all five downtowns, most notably Wausau. Third Street,
Wausau's
major commercial street, was attractively landscaped and generously
proportioned for pedestrian movement, and included little extra touches
such as hanging flower baskets and colorful city banners (see Figure 2).

Other less commonly applied techniques included a pedestrian bridge
over the Kenduskeag River in Bangor and a nicely designed pedestrian
alley in Carson City that parallels the heavily trafficked and
pedestrian-unfriendly Carson Street.

Waterfront development. The presence of a waterway heightens one's
sense of place (Breen & Rigby, 1994). A high percentage of small-city
downtowns originally were established due to a waterway, and even
though its economic function most likely has long diminished, downtowns
have seized the opportunity to take advantage of this natural amenity
that
is rarely found in suburban or highway commercial areas. Despite being
used in only 32% of survey cities, waterfront developments were rated
very successful. Bangor has been the most ambitious in terms of
waterfront development. The narrow Kenduskeag River has been
developed to provide continuous public access via a linear park, a
pedestrian bridge, and an open space on a small island; nearby
buildings,
both old and new, supply a nice feeling of enclosure. Attention has
turned
more recently to the larger Penobscot River where a former
industrial railroad corridor has been cleared for new development. A
microbrewery, office building, and community park have already been
established, and future development plans are in the works (J. Lord,
personal
communication, July 22, 1997). To date, Wausau and Auburn have made
less effective use of their downtown rivers.

Future plans. When asked which downtown strategies would be used
during the next 5 years, those associated witha sense of place were
cited
most often. As can be seen in Table 6, historic preservation and
waterfront
development ranked first and third, respectively, with pedestrianization

improvements and Main Street approach also receiving a respectable
number
of votes. This provides further evidence that creating a strong sense of
place
is considered a key to the future of small-city downtowns.

--
Greg Brown, Associate Professor
(gregb@alaskapacific.edu)
Alaska Pacific University
(907) 564-8267
Fax: (907) 562-4276