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Article Excerpt
Introduction
The literature on urban economic development is dominated by analysis of the decentralization of population and employment, the resulting decline of the traditional central business district (CBD)--hereafter referred to as downtown--and the consequences of both. There is a direct relationship between sprawl (excessive decentralization) and downtown vitality. As Brueckner (2000) pointed out, excessive suburbanization reduces "the incentive to redevelop land near the center" contributing to the decline of downtown areas. Numerous policies and projects have been implemented to lure people and businesses back downtown. The movement to revitalize once vibrant urban centers that have gone through a protracted period of decline has gained momentum over the last few decades. The organization of downtown interests is key to revitalization efforts.
Downtown areas often lack large tracts of developable land and have a variety of aging historical buildings that are not compatible with the type of development, such as big box retailers, that is occurring in outlying areas. Historic buildings and existing infrastructure within downtown areas offer an opportunity to create a new and unusual combination of activities in stark contrast to what Kunstler (1993) termed the "nowhere syndrome," referring to the anonymity of many newer built environments with the same stores, architecture, and large parking lots. The ability to establish a "sense of place" is one of the strengths of traditional downtown areas.
Revitalization efforts have been analyzed in large cities such as Denver (Weiler, 2000) and Memphis (Moe & Wilke, 1999). Less analysis has focused on smaller cities, particularly secondary cities within metropolitan areas. (2) Areas such as New Albany, Indiana, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, outside of Louisville, Kentucky, are examples of secondary cities within a metropolitan area. There are many other examples throughout the United States. This article extends the literature on urban economic development by focusing on downtown revitalization in secondary cities within metropolitan areas. Revitalization efforts in two such cities, New Albany and Jeffersonville, Indiana, are included in the analysis.
The remainder of the article is organized as follows. The next section presents a brief review of the literature on downtown revitalization. The following section presents a process model of changes that have occurred in downtown areas over the past half-century. The fourth section presents an analysis of revitalization efforts in New Albany, Indiana, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, to illustrate components of the model. The fifth section constructs quantitative measures of downtown revitalization using publicly available data. The final section concludes with a discussion of revitalization efforts in small cities and a few recommendations.
Review of the Literature on Downtown Revitalization
The literature on downtown revitalization in the United States is primarily descriptive and prescriptive--describing policies and projects that have worked or not worked in particular cities and prescriptions for how to approach the revitalization process. One result of this approach is that specific policies (or projects) that have been successful in one city are often adopted with little modification in other cities. Many times such projects are not successful and fail to establish a "sense of place" that make downtown areas attractive.
Policies and Projects
Several types of policies and resulting projects have been implemented to revitalize downtown areas. Robertson (1995) provides an overview and assessment of seven approaches that have been commonly pursued: (1) pedestrianization, (2) indoor shopping centers, (3) historic preservation, (4) waterfront development, (5) office development, (6) special activity generators, and (7) transportation enhancements. Housing development is an additional strategy. See, for example, Sohmer (1999).
Pedestrianization focuses on making the downtown more pedestrian friendly. Improving sidewalks, public safety, and seating are components of this strategy. One aspect of this strategy was the development of pedestrian malls in many communities across the United States beginning in the 1970s. Streets that had once been primary arteries of traffic were closed to automobile traffic, overlain with pavers, enhanced with trees and planters, and "opened for business." In two decades time, while there are still a few examples of successful pedestrian malls in existence, most communities (including Fourth Street in Louisville, Kentucky) have opened the streets back up to vehicular traffic. Pedestrian malls did not meet the original goal of bringing people downtown and reversing the decline of downtown retail.
The development of indoor shopping centers is another effort to retain retail sales and compete with the suburbs. There are two examples near New Albany and Jeffersonville, Indiana: The Galleria in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, is considered an unsuccessful (3) example and Circle Center Mall in downtown Indianapolis is considered a successful example. Judging the success of such centers depends on the criteria used. Gratz and Minz (1998) argue that rather than large projects such as downtown malls, the focus should be on incremental changes that "add to the long-evolving, existing strengths, instead of replacing them" (p. 61). West and Orr (2003) argue that such developments have positive spillover effects: increasing community pride and encouraging shoppers to visit other stores and restaurants in the downtown area.
Historic preservation focuses on "adaptive reuse" of historic structures where buildings that were initially constructed for one purpose are converted to a different use. Listokin, Listokin, and Lahr (1998) provide an overview of historic preservation programs in the United States and examine the contribution of historic preservation in cities that have a Main Street program. Over 48,800 buildings have been rehabilitated in cities with Main Street Programs since 1980 in addition to substantial numbers of new businesses and jobs (p. 455). While some of these buildings may have been rehabilitated even in the absence of the program, Main Street has undoubtedly had a positive impact in communities in terms of being a catalyst for historic preservation and rehabilitation of downtown properties.
Waterfront development can be divided into two broad categories: development as public or as private space. Numerous cities have converted former industrial sites of underutilized tracts of land along rivers and lakes to public use or for use of the private sector or a combination. For example, in Cincinnati, Ohio, two new professional sports stadiums, a park, and mixed-use development are in process along the Ohio River. Louisville, Kentucky, has converted underutilized land along the Ohio River into a public park with a variety of activities including a controversial extreme sports park and a minor league baseball stadium. Gordon (1997) examines the long-term process and the public-private partnerships needed to successfully implement large waterfront development projects using New York, Boston, London, and Toronto as examples.
The office sector has remained a large component of downtown employment and can serve as "feeders" to stores, restaurants, and hotels in the downtown. Overbuilding occurred in the office sector during the 1980s and early 1990s especially in class B and C space, resulting in a glut of office space in many cities. Over time some of this space has been converted to other uses such as housing (Birch, 2002). Smaller cities within metropolitan areas often have an abundance of B and C space in older buildings. Rents are often lower than for comparable space in the primary city of a metropolitan area.
Special activity generators such as stadiums and convention centers have become common components of economic development strategies. Although many cities credit sports with downtown revitalization, a wide variety of independent studies on the economic impact of sports facilities have shown "that there is no statistically significant positive correlation between sports facilities and economic development" (Seigfried & Zimbalist, 2000, p. 103). The low impact of sports stadiums on economic development occurs because many players live outside of the host city and therefore spend little money in the city where they play, most of the jobs created through sports stadiums are part-time and seasonal, and game patronage is often a substitution of one form of recreation for another. While the economic impact may be negligible, other less tangible impacts may accrue. For example, Swindell and Rosenstraub (1998) argue that stadiums contribute positively to civic pride. For small cities with metropolitan areas, professional sports teams are often not an option because the primary city already has a team.
Transportation enhancements deal with issues surrounding travel time, congestion, safety, and parking. Downtown businesses often complain that potential customers are unwilling to walk more than a few blocks to a store and that adequate parking is crucial to bringing people downtown. The possibility of not finding parking close to the targeted destination is a deterrent to visiting downtown areas. While parking can be a problem in cities of any size, congestion and safety concerns are more prevalent in large cities than in small cities.
The availability of public transportation also has a role. In small cities, public transportation is often infrequent or nonexistent. As a result the wait time for public transportation is likely to be longer in small cities, which serves as a deterrent to use in general and to travel downtown. Economic research has shown that the time waiting for public transportation is the largest deterrent to use...
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