160 acres and a mule…or an arts district

Arts organizations and arts developments are often part of a community’s effort to revitalize or re-animate areas of downtown that have stumbled into stasis. In fact, urban revitalization is often a key talking point in proposals to construct or refurbish cultural facilities (”If we build it…blah blah blah”).

All of us know, however, that a single arts building or initiative can’t redirect the tidal forces of urban activity. Instead, it requires the synergistic efforts of government, for-profits, nonprofits, and citizens — whether working collaboratively, or accidentally, toward a common goal.

For anyone in the business of reshaping downtowns, The Brookings Institution has a useful and thoughtful whitepaper on how it works. ”Turning Around Downtown: Twelve Steps to Revitalization” focuses on how to build a ”walkable urbanity,” since ”walkability” turns out to be a key element of what makes such areas work. Says the author:

Since the rise of cities 8,000 years ago, humans have only wanted to walk about 1500 feet until they begin looking for an alternative means of transport: a horse, a trolley, a bicycle, or a car. This distance translates into about 160 acres — about the size of a super regional mall, including its parking lot. It is also about the size, plus or minus 25 percent, of Lower Manhattan, downtown Albuquerque, the Rittenhouse Square section of Philadelphia, the financial district of San Francisco, downtown Atlanta, and most other major downtowns in the country.

Another interesting position of the paper is that it’s not just what you do in your revitalization efforts that matters, it’s in what sequence…certain steps (the establishment of a strong office market, for example) require other steps to be already in place (a strong rental and sales market in housing).

For those who can’t wait to read the paper to know the twelve steps (and no, ”Let go, let God,” isn’t one of them), here they are, cryptic though they may be:

1. Capture the Vision
2. Develop a Strategic Plan
3. Forge a Healthy Private/Public Partnership
4. Make the Right Thing Easy
5. Establish Business Improvement Districts and Other Non-Profits
6. Create a Catalytic Development Company
7. Create an Urban Entertainment District
8. Develop a Rental Housing Market
9. Pioneer an Affordability Strategy
10. Focus on For-Sale Housing
11. Develop a Local-Serving Retail Strategy
12. Re-create a Strong Office Market