Content area
Full text
PAS REPORT 590
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Downtowns are more than retail, commercial, service, and work centers. They are the symbolic centers of cities and are unifying forces for their communities. These are the reasons cities across the country are committing resources, both financial and human, to bring them back to economic health.
Civic leaders have a renewed commitment to downtowns. Revitalizing downtowns in small and midsized cities is particularly challenging because these cities have fewer resources and less capacity to address needed responses-but they have positive attributes and assets too. These include cultural and institutional assets, relatively low costs of living, and local support for downtowns and efforts to revitalize them. The evidence from the literature shows that downtowns of smaller cities are different environments than those of large cities, face different challenges, have different assets, and proffer distinct attributes for their revitalization. This calls for redevelopment strategies that are tailored to the specific needs and conditions of these communities.
Several key points relating to downtown revitalization in small and midsized cities emerge from the numerous case studies that are discussed in this report. The main findings are: (1) cities need to have a long-term vision in the revitalization of their downtown; (2) city staffplay a critical role in downtown revitalization; (3) building public-private partnerships is essential to the effectiveness of downtown revitalization; (4) cities need to be patient and commit to a long-term process to see results; (5) mixed use development should be prioritized in downtown development projects; (6) quality placemaking enhances the downtown environment and helps draw people to the city center; and (7) each city must identify and build on the assets of its downtown.
This PAS report builds on previous work on the subject, Downtown Planning for Smaller and Midsized Communities (Walker 2009). That book provides guidance to civic leaders and downtown organizations on the intricacies of planning for the redevelopment of downtowns in smaller and midsized cities; it provides a step-by-step approach to developing a downtown plan and explores the issues that need to be considered in the preparation of the plan. This report is different. It is evidence-based, and digs deeper into strategies that cities have implemented and their effectiveness in the revitalization of a downtown. This report is...