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Posts tagged "Economic Development"
Project Syndicate: “The Return of the Trading City Alan Berube. Jan 25, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC – Recently, a group of officials gathered to plot a new trade strategy. It was a typical trade-policy discussion: the participants diagnosed competitive export sectors, identified key trading partners, described how public and private investment could resolve barriers to global integration, and forged a new bilateral relationship. But the meeting was not hosted by the World Bank or the World Trade Organization in Washington, DC. It was held in Portland, Oregon, where Mayor Sam Adams and Greater Portland, Inc. (a public-private partnership dedicated to driving regional economic growth and job creation) have collaborated to develop and implement a new export plan for the Portland metropolitan area. In the age of the WTO, free-trade agreements, and currency wars, why would a city have a trade strategy? The answer is simple: as Portland’s initiative – one of a growing number of metropolitan-led trade efforts worldwide – recognizes, cities, not countries, are the real centers of global trade.” Illustration: Paul Lachine  

Project Syndicate:

“The Return of the Trading City

Alan Berube. Jan 25, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC – Recently, a group of officials gathered to plot a new trade strategy. It was a typical trade-policy discussion: the participants diagnosed competitive export sectors, identified key trading partners, described how public and private investment could resolve barriers to global integration, and forged a new bilateral relationship.

But the meeting was not hosted by the World Bank or the World Trade Organization in Washington, DC. It was held in Portland, Oregon, where Mayor Sam Adams and Greater Portland, Inc. (a public-private partnership dedicated to driving regional economic growth and job creation) have collaborated to develop and implement a new export plan for the Portland metropolitan area.


In the age of the WTO, free-trade agreements, and currency wars, why would a city have a trade strategy? The answer is simple: as Portland’s initiative – one of a growing number of metropolitan-led trade efforts worldwide – recognizes, cities, not countries, are the real centers of global trade.”

Illustration: Paul Lachine

 

01/30/13
Economics  Cities  global trae  regional economic growth  economic development 
PlaceShakers:  “Solid Buildings Last: A tale of public housing, reborn Scott Doyon. Dec 20, 2012 Earlier this month, as Hazel mentioned in her city-as-running-buddy post last week, our travels took us to Wilmington, North Carolina, where we were doing some long-term master planning for a neighboring town. Part of that job involved a tour around the area, scoping out different models and precedents, and that’s when we stumbled into South Front, the subject for today’s post. I don’t typically gush on things simply because they’re coolbut, in this case, I’m going to make an exception because South Front, as best I can tell, embodies a litany of things we tend to advocate in the course of our work. Here’s the basics, mixing anecdotal history from both our client and from Chuck, our host at The Verandas Bed and Breakfast where we stayed: In 1940, the newly-formed Wilmington Housing Authority built Nesbitt Court, a 216-unit housing complex on 13 acres, to meet a rapidly increasing demand for housing brought about by new wartime jobs and the workers arriving to fill them. Very consistent with housing authority projects of that era, it served originally as whites-only workers housing and then for many decades thereafter as your typical subsidized public housing — suffering all the challenges and dysfunctions such places bring to mind and falling further and further into decline until it was ultimately shut down in 2007. With no funds for renovation, the WHA chose to sell the property to private interests, securing a deal to sell it several years later as-is to Tribute Properties for $1.62 million. Earlier this month, as Hazel mentioned in her city-as-running-buddy post last week, our travels took us to Wilmington, North Carolina, where we were doing some long-term master planning for a neighboring town. Part of that job involved a tour around the area, scoping out different models and precedents, and that’s when we stumbled into South Front, the subject for today’s post. I don’t typically gush on things simply because they’re coolbut, in this case, I’m going to make an exception because South Front, as best I can tell, embodies a litany of things we tend to advocate in the course of our work. Here’s the basics, mixing anecdotal history from both our client and from Chuck, our host at The Verandas Bed and Breakfast where we stayed: In 1940, the newly-formed Wilmington Housing Authority built Nesbitt Court, a 216-unit housing complex on 13 acres, to meet a rapidly increasing demand for housing brought about by new wartime jobs and the workers arriving to fill them. Very consistent with housing authority projects of that era, it served originally as whites-only workers housing and then for many decades thereafter as your typical subsidized public housing — suffering all the challenges and dysfunctions such places bring to mind and falling further and further into decline until it was ultimately shut down in 2007. With no funds for renovation, the WHA chose to sell the property to private interests, securing a deal to sell it several years later as-is to Tribute Properties for $1.62 million.”

PlaceShakers: 

“Solid Buildings Last: A tale of public housing, reborn

Scott Doyon. Dec 20, 2012

Earlier this month, as Hazel mentioned in her city-as-running-buddy post last week, our travels took us to Wilmington, North Carolina, where we were doing some long-term master planning for a neighboring town. Part of that job involved a tour around the area, scoping out different models and precedents, and that’s when we stumbled into South Front, the subject for today’s post.

I don’t typically gush on things simply because they’re coolbut, in this case, I’m going to make an exception because South Front, as best I can tell, embodies a litany of things we tend to advocate in the course of our work. Here’s the basics, mixing anecdotal history from both our client and from Chuck, our host at The Verandas Bed and Breakfast where we stayed:

In 1940, the newly-formed Wilmington Housing Authority built Nesbitt Court, a 216-unit housing complex on 13 acres, to meet a rapidly increasing demand for housing brought about by new wartime jobs and the workers arriving to fill them. Very consistent with housing authority projects of that era, it served originally as whites-only workers housing and then for many decades thereafter as your typical subsidized public housing — suffering all the challenges and dysfunctions such places bring to mind and falling further and further into decline until it was ultimately shut down in 2007. With no funds for renovation, the WHA chose to sell the property to private interests, securing a deal to sell it several years later as-is to Tribute Properties for $1.62 million.

Earlier this month, as Hazel mentioned in her city-as-running-buddy post last week, our travels took us to Wilmington, North Carolina, where we were doing some long-term master planning for a neighboring town. Part of that job involved a tour around the area, scoping out different models and precedents, and that’s when we stumbled into South Front, the subject for today’s post.

I don’t typically gush on things simply because they’re coolbut, in this case, I’m going to make an exception because South Front, as best I can tell, embodies a litany of things we tend to advocate in the course of our work. Here’s the basics, mixing anecdotal history from both our client and from Chuck, our host at The Verandas Bed and Breakfast where we stayed:

In 1940, the newly-formed Wilmington Housing Authority built Nesbitt Court, a 216-unit housing complex on 13 acres, to meet a rapidly increasing demand for housing brought about by new wartime jobs and the workers arriving to fill them. Very consistent with housing authority projects of that era, it served originally as whites-only workers housing and then for many decades thereafter as your typical subsidized public housing — suffering all the challenges and dysfunctions such places bring to mind and falling further and further into decline until it was ultimately shut down in 2007. With no funds for renovation, the WHA chose to sell the property to private interests, securing a deal to sell it several years later as-is to Tribute Properties for $1.62 million.”


12/27/12

4 notes

Architecture  LEED  Wilmington  North Carolina  Wilmington Housing Authority  South Front  community development  economic development 
“Washington’s economic future depends on more housing by Lisa Sturtevant and Agnes Artemel  October 17, 2012 Is the Washington region building enough housing, or the right types of housing, for the future? At current rates, probably not, and that risks stifling the region’s economic vitality. Over the next 20 years, the Washington metropolitan area will add over a million net new jobs. At the same time, the region will need 1.8 million workers to replace retirees and others leaving the workforce. These workers will need over 700,000 new housing units by 2030, but even if the pace of construction over the last 20 years continues, the region would only add about ¾ that much. Plus, new workers will (and already do) demand more multi-family housing and housing at lower price points than what exists today or what most builders are constructing. In 2010, the Washington metropolitan area depended on non-resident workers more than any other metropolitan area in the country. About 230,000 commuters from places like Baltimore, the Eastern Shore, Richmond and West Virginia work in Washington every day. Hundreds of thousands of other workers commute between jurisdictions each morning and evening. A major source of the region’s transportation problems is the inadequate supply of housing within the region. Without enough housing for our future workers, the consequences will be enormous. Home prices and rents will rise, our roadways will become more congested, our transit systems strained to the limit, and employers will depend more and more on non-resident workers. Housing the workforce is key to the Washington region sustaining its current economic success and achieving its economic growth potential in the future. The region needs more than 700,000 new housing units by 2030 Forecasts from the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis found that to accommodate future employment growth, the Washington region would need to add 731,457 new housing units between 2010 and 2030, or about 36,500 housing units each year. The table below shows how many units each jurisdiction needs if it wants to house all of its future workers inside its borders.” Via: Greater Greater Washington Photo: dan reed! Flickr

“Washington’s economic future depends on more housing

by Lisa Sturtevant and Agnes Artemel  October 17, 2012

Is the Washington region building enough housing, or the right types of housing, for the future? At current rates, probably not, and that risks stifling the region’s economic vitality.

Over the next 20 years, the Washington metropolitan area will add over a million net new jobs. At the same time, the region will need 1.8 million workers to replace retirees and others leaving the workforce.

These workers will need over 700,000 new housing units by 2030, but even if the pace of construction over the last 20 years continues, the region would only add about ¾ that much. Plus, new workers will (and already do) demand more multi-family housing and housing at lower price points than what exists today or what most builders are constructing.

In 2010, the Washington metropolitan area depended on non-resident workers more than any other metropolitan area in the country. About 230,000 commuters from places like Baltimore, the Eastern Shore, Richmond and West Virginia work in Washington every day. Hundreds of thousands of other workers commute between jurisdictions each morning and evening.

A major source of the region’s transportation problems is the inadequate supply of housing within the region. Without enough housing for our future workers, the consequences will be enormous. Home prices and rents will rise, our roadways will become more congested, our transit systems strained to the limit, and employers will depend more and more on non-resident workers.

Housing the workforce is key to the Washington region sustaining its current economic success and achieving its economic growth potential in the future.

The region needs more than 700,000 new housing units by 2030

Forecasts from the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis found that to accommodate future employment growth, the Washington region would need to add 731,457 new housing units between 2010 and 2030, or about 36,500 housing units each year. The table below shows how many units each jurisdiction needs if it wants to house all of its future workers inside its borders.”

Via: Greater Greater Washington

Photo: dan reed! Flickr

10/20/12

4 notes

Housing  Washington DC  Economics  Economic Development  Cities  Housing Supply 
“Urban Industry Redefined: The Brooklyn Navy Yard By Caitlin Blanchfield. Sept 19, 2012 The Brooklyn Navy Yard sits in the curve of Wallabout Bay, right where the East River broadens into New York Harbor, at the crossroads of North and South Brooklyn. During its 165 years as an active naval base, the Yard was known as one of the nation’s premier shipbuilding facilities. At its peak, during World War II, the complex employed 70,000 people. And at its closing, in 1966, it was the oldest continually active industrial plant in New York State. This rich industrial legacy permeates the site today, in both the physical form of its buildings and its management’s commitment to retaining manufacturing jobs in contemporary New York City. An industrial park comprised of 40 buildings, three functioning dry docks and four active piers spanning 300 acres, the Yard is now home to a vibrant and growing community of tenants that are, as Caitlin Blanchfield describes in the piece that follows, “part of a 21st century redefinition of urban industry.” The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) is in the midst of an extensive building campaign in the Yard, one for which sustainability is a top priority. Sustainability, for BNYDC, does not end with green building — though that is an important component of their plans — but instead extends to an understanding of the facility’s capacity to affect and contribute to its local and regional communities in the long term. Through workforce development, community outreach, and educational programming, the BNYDC is coupling its own notion of success with the livelihood opportunities available to its tenants and neighbors. The businesses inside its walls — including a movie studio, an aerospace engineering research company, architecture and design studios, a distillery, and a variety of small-scale manufacturers, artisans and artists — demonstrate BNYDC’s belief that cultivating tenants of various sizes and trades is more than just economically pragmatic. It presents opportunities for collaboration, invention, and connections to citywide efforts to grow New York’s creative, technology, and manufacturing sectors.” Down where Sands Street dead ends at Navy, two girls are at work on a wall. Headphones slung around their necks, they gossip as they crest a wave in sea foam paint. These are local high school students putting the final touches on a mural of Brooklyn’s naval history — just one part of an ongoing facelift that, for the past seven years, has been steadily opening the walls to one of the city’s oldest manufacturing centers. “It’s about improving the Navy Yard’s public façade,” explains Andrew Kimball, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC), as he points to two scaffold-clad guardhouses at the Sands Street gate. Formerly overshadowed by an unloved NYPD tow pound, the guardhouses are undergoing a historical renovation to revive the original brick and marble façades. Behind these gates, hidden by aged walls and overgrowth, Brooklyn businesses are forging the future of urban manufacturing on a 300-acre industrial campus known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Here, 12 green buildings will soon be raised, 2,500 jobs will be created in the next two years, and three city landmarks are being preserved. Founded in 1801 as a naval shipbuilding facility, the site has served as an active industrial park since 1971. Since his appointment to the BNYDC in 2005, Kimball has presided over a sweeping initiative to expand and enhance the Yard through a careful marriage of conservation, renovation and new development. But BNYDC’s efforts to make the Navy Yard a vital component of a diverse and sustainable New York City economy aren’t limited to improving its building stock. A sophisticated mix of architectural, environmental, communications and workforce development strategies are underway.” Via: Urban Omnibus Photo: Aerial view of the Brooklyn Navy Yard | Photo by Robert Clark

“Urban Industry Redefined: The Brooklyn Navy Yard

By Caitlin Blanchfield. Sept 19, 2012

The Brooklyn Navy Yard sits in the curve of Wallabout Bay, right where the East River broadens into New York Harbor, at the crossroads of North and South Brooklyn. During its 165 years as an active naval base, the Yard was known as one of the nation’s premier shipbuilding facilities. At its peak, during World War II, the complex employed 70,000 people. And at its closing, in 1966, it was the oldest continually active industrial plant in New York State. This rich industrial legacy permeates the site today, in both the physical form of its buildings and its management’s commitment to retaining manufacturing jobs in contemporary New York City.

An industrial park comprised of 40 buildings, three functioning dry docks and four active piers spanning 300 acres, the Yard is now home to a vibrant and growing community of tenants that are, as Caitlin Blanchfield describes in the piece that follows, “part of a 21st century redefinition of urban industry.”

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) is in the midst of an extensive building campaign in the Yard, one for which sustainability is a top priority. Sustainability, for BNYDC, does not end with green building — though that is an important component of their plans — but instead extends to an understanding of the facility’s capacity to affect and contribute to its local and regional communities in the long term. Through workforce development, community outreach, and educational programming, the BNYDC is coupling its own notion of success with the livelihood opportunities available to its tenants and neighbors. The businesses inside its walls — including a movie studio, an aerospace engineering research company, architecture and design studios, a distillery, and a variety of small-scale manufacturers, artisans and artists — demonstrate BNYDC’s belief that cultivating tenants of various sizes and trades is more than just economically pragmatic. It presents opportunities for collaboration, invention, and connections to citywide efforts to grow New York’s creative, technology, and manufacturing sectors.”

Down where Sands Street dead ends at Navy, two girls are at work on a wall. Headphones slung around their necks, they gossip as they crest a wave in sea foam paint. These are local high school students putting the final touches on a mural of Brooklyn’s naval history — just one part of an ongoing facelift that, for the past seven years, has been steadily opening the walls to one of the city’s oldest manufacturing centers. “It’s about improving the Navy Yard’s public façade,” explains Andrew Kimball, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC), as he points to two scaffold-clad guardhouses at the Sands Street gate. Formerly overshadowed by an unloved NYPD tow pound, the guardhouses are undergoing a historical renovation to revive the original brick and marble façades.

Behind these gates, hidden by aged walls and overgrowth, Brooklyn businesses are forging the future of urban manufacturing on a 300-acre industrial campus known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Here, 12 green buildings will soon be raised, 2,500 jobs will be created in the next two years, and three city landmarks are being preserved. Founded in 1801 as a naval shipbuilding facility, the site has served as an active industrial park since 1971. Since his appointment to the BNYDC in 2005, Kimball has presided over a sweeping initiative to expand and enhance the Yard through a careful marriage of conservation, renovation and new development. But BNYDC’s efforts to make the Navy Yard a vital component of a diverse and sustainable New York City economy aren’t limited to improving its building stock. A sophisticated mix of architectural, environmental, communications and workforce development strategies are underway.”

Via: Urban Omnibus

Photo: Aerial view of the Brooklyn Navy Yard | Photo by Robert Clark


09/20/12

5 notes

Brooklyn Navy Yard  Brooklyn  New York City  Economic Development  Manufacturing  Technology  Waterfront  Jobs 
” FEATURE> A NEW MORNING IN WASHINGTON Amanda Kolson Hurley. 06.20.2012 Long considered one of the most traditional and risk-averse cities in the country, Washington D.C. is embracing innovative architecture and urban planning. Thanks to a new generation of enlightened local governance buoyed by on-going federal spending and related private development, which has kept the city booming through the Great Recession, the Capital is emerging as an unexpected model of progressive urbanism. Amanda Kolson Hurley surveys the scene. It’s hard to pinpoint just when D.C. began to change—when a famously classical city took a second look at contemporary architecture and urban design, liked what it saw, and even more surprising given its ingrained traditionalism, many-layered regulatory processes, and vocal NIMBY groups, started building more of it. “Here’s the challenge in Washington: it’s still a city in which the people are fundamentally not Los Angeles–type people. This is a place that’s conservative,” said Roger Lewis, an architect and Washington Post columnist who has lived in D.C. since the late 1960s. “We have this legacy of classically inspired buildings. That, coupled with the L’Enfant Plan and the 130-foot height limit, does tend to produce a mindset…that resists innovation.” But Lewis and others see that resistance crumbling and a new eagerness for architectural innovation emerging. Even the Height Act of 1910, once taken as doctrine, is under review. D.C.’s Mayor Vincent Gray and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that oversees the district, recently said they would consider relaxing the limits, especially outside of the monumental core. As the city’s population grows and buildable parcels of land dwindle, economic development types can only look in one direction: up.”  Via: The Architect’s Newspaper Image: EE& KKS MASTER PLAN FOR THE WHARF ALONG THE WATERFRONT, AN AMBITIOUSLY MIXED-USE (INCLUDING A GRADUATE SCHOOL) DEVELOPMENT BY HOFFMAN-MADISON WATERFRONT THAT IS ADJACENT TO THE EQUALLY FORWARD-LOOKING REVITALIZATION PLAN FOR THE SOUTHWEST ECODISTRICT. COURTESY EE&K

” FEATURE> A NEW MORNING IN WASHINGTON

Amanda Kolson Hurley. 06.20.2012

Long considered one of the most traditional and risk-averse cities in the country, Washington D.C. is embracing innovative architecture and urban planning. Thanks to a new generation of enlightened local governance buoyed by on-going federal spending and related private development, which has kept the city booming through the Great Recession, the Capital is emerging as an unexpected model of progressive urbanism. Amanda Kolson Hurley surveys the scene.

It’s hard to pinpoint just when D.C. began to change—when a famously classical city took a second look at contemporary architecture and urban design, liked what it saw, and even more surprising given its ingrained traditionalism, many-layered regulatory processes, and vocal NIMBY groups, started building more of it.

“Here’s the challenge in Washington: it’s still a city in which the people are fundamentally not Los Angeles–type people. This is a place that’s conservative,” said Roger Lewis, an architect and Washington Post columnist who has lived in D.C. since the late 1960s. “We have this legacy of classically inspired buildings. That, coupled with the L’Enfant Plan and the 130-foot height limit, does tend to produce a mindset…that resists innovation.”

But Lewis and others see that resistance crumbling and a new eagerness for architectural innovation emerging. Even the Height Act of 1910, once taken as doctrine, is under review. D.C.’s Mayor Vincent Gray and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that oversees the district, recently said they would consider relaxing the limits, especially outside of the monumental core. As the city’s population grows and buildable parcels of land dwindle, economic development types can only look in one direction: up.” 

Via: The Architect’s Newspaper

Image: EE& KKS MASTER PLAN FOR THE WHARF ALONG THE WATERFRONT, AN AMBITIOUSLY MIXED-USE (INCLUDING A GRADUATE SCHOOL) DEVELOPMENT BY HOFFMAN-MADISON WATERFRONT THAT IS ADJACENT TO THE EQUALLY FORWARD-LOOKING REVITALIZATION PLAN FOR THE SOUTHWEST ECODISTRICT. COURTESY EE&K

06/21/12

2 notes

Washington DC  Urban Planning  economic development  urban development  Urban Design  Architecture 
“Americans Want More City Planning Tyler Falk. June 14, 2012 What’s most important to economic development in your community? Better transit, thriving local businesses, more affordable housing? Community plans are a key component in bringing those ideas to life. According to a new poll from the American Planning Association, Americans agree. Two-thirds of the 1,300 Americans surveyed said that their community needs both planning and market forces to improve its economic situation. When asked if a community plan - defined as a “process that seeks to engage all members of a community to create more prosperous, convenient, equitable, healthy and attractive places for present and future generations” - would benefit the community, 79 percent of respondents agreed. And that’s across a broad political spectrum with 88 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Republicans, and 81 percent of independents in agreement. Respondents were also asked to rank the top five factors that make up an “ideal community.” The results: Locally owned businesses nearby Being able to stay in the same neighborhood while aging Availability of sidewalks Energy-efficient homes Availability of transit When asked to compare life for residents in their communities to five years earlier, an overwhelming number of respondents (84 percent) said that life was worse (49 percent) or the same (35 percent). Only 11 percent felt that living in their community was better than it was five years ago. It’s worth noting that there’s a significant gap in this statistic depending on where people live. In urban areas, 40 percent of residents said their community is getting worse, while the percentage gradually increased in suburbs (45 percent), rural areas (58 percent), and small towns (65 percent). “Planners are at the forefront of building communities that foster economic growth and create jobs. We’re working to add value to communities around the country, and this poll confirms that our expertise is aligned with the priorities of most Americans,” APA Chief Executive Officer Paul Farmer wrote in a statement.”  Via: The Atlantic Cities Graphic: Stephen Ravenscraft

“Americans Want More City Planning

Tyler Falk. June 14, 2012

What’s most important to economic development in your community? Better transit, thriving local businesses, more affordable housing?

Community plans are a key component in bringing those ideas to life. According to a new poll from the American Planning Association, Americans agree. Two-thirds of the 1,300 Americans surveyed said that their community needs both planning and market forces to improve its economic situation.

When asked if a community plan - defined as a “process that seeks to engage all members of a community to create more prosperous, convenient, equitable, healthy and attractive places for present and future generations” - would benefit the community, 79 percent of respondents agreed. And that’s across a broad political spectrum with 88 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Republicans, and 81 percent of independents in agreement.

Respondents were also asked to rank the top five factors that make up an “ideal community.” The results:

Locally owned businesses nearby

Being able to stay in the same neighborhood while aging

Availability of sidewalks

Energy-efficient homes

Availability of transit

When asked to compare life for residents in their communities to five years earlier, an overwhelming number of respondents (84 percent) said that life was worse (49 percent) or the same (35 percent). Only 11 percent felt that living in their community was better than it was five years ago.

It’s worth noting that there’s a significant gap in this statistic depending on where people live. In urban areas, 40 percent of residents said their community is getting worse, while the percentage gradually increased in suburbs (45 percent), rural areas (58 percent), and small towns (65 percent).

“Planners are at the forefront of building communities that foster economic growth and create jobs. We’re working to add value to communities around the country, and this poll confirms that our expertise is aligned with the priorities of most Americans,” APA Chief Executive Officer Paul Farmer wrote in a statement.” 

Via: The Atlantic Cities

Graphic: Stephen Ravenscraft

06/15/12

14 notes

Urban Planning  Communities  Community Development  Urban Design  Built Environment  Economic Development  Town Planning\ 
“The Triumph of Cincinnati’s Center City Plan John Yung. June 4, 2012 Cincinnati was a different place ten years ago. It was a city still reeling from the destruction left behind by the civil unrest in 2001, and had a downtown in decline with retailers closing up shop and office vacancies soaring. The Banks project was regarded as a pipe dream, a field of mud between the elevated islands of sports stadiums and a lonely museum overlooking construction on the opposite side of the Ohio River. Over-the-Rhine was a different place ten years ago as well. The corner of Twelfth and Vine Street consistently rated as the most dangerous in the city. Block after block of boarded buildings stood silently as echoes of an era time forgot. This was Cincinnati’s center city, a dried up husk of its former glory where redevelopment projects stalled and floundered and everyone returned home before dusk. My, how far things have come. In ten years time, the city center has experienced a resurrection from what appeared to be a near death experience. Fountain Square now attracts concerts and events, The Banks has become reality, Over-the-Rhine is being revitalized before our eyes, and it seems like every day there is a new project, a new store, a new cultural amenity, or a new festival choosing the downtown area. There is a saying that it takes a village, but in this case, it took a plan to change the area’s trajectory. The Center City Plan as conceived in 2002 by consultants as a report to the city’s Economic Development Task Force. What the plan did is lay out a vision and way forward for the city to begin restoring the vitality of its largest economic center. “The Economic Development Taskforce was a public-private partnership that looked at how the city could thrive,” City Spokesperson, Meg Olberding, explained. “The task force laid out a structure whereby the public and private sectors each have their role, but must work together.” The task force made 23 recommendations, in total, including the creation of a one-stop permit shop, establishment of the Port Authority as an economic development agency, and the formation of the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC). City officials and 3CDC were tasked with making the goals laid out in the Center City Plan a reality. In particular, the plan detailed four initiatives aimed at restoring vitality. Redevelop Fountain Square: The plan recommended that the city, “transform Fountain Square into the city’s retail, cultural and civic heart”. Consolidation of retail at street level and creation of an attractive public space went into the redesign of the square. The removal of pedestrian skywalks also seen as a way to focus pedestrian activity on the street. Revitalize Over-the-Rhine: With regards to Over-the-Rhine the plan said, “Without intensive focus on Over-the-Rhine, efforts in the center city will be wasted.” Starting with a focus on the Vine Street corridor as the primary retail corridor, the plan envisioned a catalytic development agency spurring redevelopment along Vine Street in the historic neighborhood. The plan was to start at Central Parkway and work north towards Liberty Street. Build the Banks: The plan initially tasked the agency that would become 3CDC with the mission of building The Banks project. Years later the project moved forward under a steering committee to overcome conflicts that arose from the various parties involved in the riverfront redevelopment. Restore Washington Park: It was recommended that the city, “Implement a comprehensive development strategy to make Washington Park a civic treasurer.” Of the many recommendations that stem from the Center City Plan, nearly all of them have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented today. The success of the plan, and those implementing it, can be seen every time a new project breaks ground, a new business opens shop, or a new cultural attraction takes root. Other less visible accomplishments can be credited to the implementation of the other recommendations of the Economic Development Task Force such as the evolving direction of the Port Authority, the Plan Build Live initiative, and the city’s revised marketing approach. Olberding concluded that, “This has proven to be a winning strategy for the City and one that will be more and more important as we take Cincinnati to the next level of growth and opportunity.” Via: UrbanCincy Photo: Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy

“The Triumph of Cincinnati’s Center City Plan

John Yung. June 4, 2012

Cincinnati was a different place ten years ago. It was a city still reeling from the destruction left behind by the civil unrest in 2001, and had a downtown in decline with retailers closing up shop and office vacancies soaring. The Banks project was regarded as a pipe dream, a field of mud between the elevated islands of sports stadiums and a lonely museum overlooking construction on the opposite side of the Ohio River.

Over-the-Rhine was a different place ten years ago as well. The corner of Twelfth and Vine Street consistently rated as the most dangerous in the city. Block after block of boarded buildings stood silently as echoes of an era time forgot. This was Cincinnati’s center city, a dried up husk of its former glory where redevelopment projects stalled and floundered and everyone returned home before dusk.

My, how far things have come.

In ten years time, the city center has experienced a resurrection from what appeared to be a near death experience. Fountain Square now attracts concerts and events, The Banks has become reality, Over-the-Rhine is being revitalized before our eyes, and it seems like every day there is a new project, a new store, a new cultural amenity, or a new festival choosing the downtown area.

There is a saying that it takes a village, but in this case, it took a plan to change the area’s trajectory.

The Center City Plan as conceived in 2002 by consultants as a report to the city’s Economic Development Task Force. What the plan did is lay out a vision and way forward for the city to begin restoring the vitality of its largest economic center.

“The Economic Development Taskforce was a public-private partnership that looked at how the city could thrive,” City Spokesperson, Meg Olberding, explained. “The task force laid out a structure whereby the public and private sectors each have their role, but must work together.”

The task force made 23 recommendations, in total, including the creation of a one-stop permit shop, establishment of the Port Authority as an economic development agency, and the formation of the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC).

City officials and 3CDC were tasked with making the goals laid out in the Center City Plan a reality. In particular, the plan detailed four initiatives aimed at restoring vitality.

Redevelop Fountain Square: The plan recommended that the city, “transform Fountain Square into the city’s retail, cultural and civic heart”. Consolidation of retail at street level and creation of an attractive public space went into the redesign of the square. The removal of pedestrian skywalks also seen as a way to focus pedestrian activity on the street.

Revitalize Over-the-Rhine: With regards to Over-the-Rhine the plan said, “Without intensive focus on Over-the-Rhine, efforts in the center city will be wasted.” Starting with a focus on the Vine Street corridor as the primary retail corridor, the plan envisioned a catalytic development agency spurring redevelopment along Vine Street in the historic neighborhood. The plan was to start at Central Parkway and work north towards Liberty Street.

Build the Banks: The plan initially tasked the agency that would become 3CDC with the mission of building The Banks project. Years later the project moved forward under a steering committee to overcome conflicts that arose from the various parties involved in the riverfront redevelopment.

Restore Washington Park: It was recommended that the city, “Implement a comprehensive development strategy to make Washington Park a civic treasurer.”

Of the many recommendations that stem from the Center City Plan, nearly all of them have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented today. The success of the plan, and those implementing it, can be seen every time a new project breaks ground, a new business opens shop, or a new cultural attraction takes root.

Other less visible accomplishments can be credited to the implementation of the other recommendations of the Economic Development Task Force such as the evolving direction of the Port Authority, the Plan Build Live initiative, and the city’s revised marketing approach.

Olberding concluded that, “This has proven to be a winning strategy for the City and one that will be more and more important as we take Cincinnati to the next level of growth and opportunity.”

Via: UrbanCincy

Photo: Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy

06/8/12

5 notes

Cincinnati  Center City Plan  United States  Ohio  Urban Planning  Cities  economic development  Downtown  Public Policy 
” Making Buildings Work: the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center Between 2002 and 2010, the United States suffered a 25 percent reduction in the number of manufacturing jobs. Over the same period, New York City experienced a 46 percent loss of approximately 64,000 manufacturing jobs.[1] The high costs of real estate and labor certainly inhibit large-scale mass production operations from remaining in or choosing to locate in New York. But a combination of specific land use policy decisions and speculative real estate development practices has further constrained the supply of industrial buildings and therefore accelerated the decline of the kind of middle class job opportunities that manufacturing has historically provided to New Yorkers: stable, skilled and well-paid. According to the New York Industrial Retention Network (an economic development and advocacy organization that is now a project of the Pratt Center for Community Development), between 2001 and 2008, approved rezonings removed 23.4 million square feet of industrial space from New York City. So, while the assembly line production plants — businesses that don’t benefit from proximity to New York’s markets — have migrated to other parts of the country and the world over the past few decades, a new breed of manufacturers — small-scale, artisanal and oriented to local markets – have struggled to find space to make stuff. Enter the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC), a non-profit industrial developer that over the past twenty years has rehabilitated six North Brooklyn buildings and made more than 750,000 square feet of space available to small manufacturers, artisans and artists. The 99 businesses currently operating in GMDC facilities currently employ over 500 people. In addition to the local economic development benefits, the environmental advantages of retrofitting existing buildings to enable the production of local goods by local workers are huge. The greenest building, after all, is the one you have already. GMDC’s model is starting to receive attention from other cities around the country eager to help bring industrial jobs back to their communities. We sat down with Brian Coleman, CEO of GMDC, to discuss this model, the changing nature of manufacturing and the increasing challenges to making buildings that respond to cultural, demographic and economic shifts in urban industry.” Via: Urban Omnibus Photo: courtesy of the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center.

” Making Buildings Work: the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center

Between 2002 and 2010, the United States suffered a 25 percent reduction in the number of manufacturing jobs. Over the same period, New York City experienced a 46 percent loss of approximately 64,000 manufacturing jobs.[1] The high costs of real estate and labor certainly inhibit large-scale mass production operations from remaining in or choosing to locate in New York. But a combination of specific land use policy decisions and speculative real estate development practices has further constrained the supply of industrial buildings and therefore accelerated the decline of the kind of middle class job opportunities that manufacturing has historically provided to New Yorkers: stable, skilled and well-paid. According to the New York Industrial Retention Network (an economic development and advocacy organization that is now a project of the Pratt Center for Community Development), between 2001 and 2008, approved rezonings removed 23.4 million square feet of industrial space from New York City. So, while the assembly line production plants — businesses that don’t benefit from proximity to New York’s markets — have migrated to other parts of the country and the world over the past few decades, a new breed of manufacturers — small-scale, artisanal and oriented to local markets – have struggled to find space to make stuff.

Enter the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC), a non-profit industrial developer that over the past twenty years has rehabilitated six North Brooklyn buildings and made more than 750,000 square feet of space available to small manufacturers, artisans and artists. The 99 businesses currently operating in GMDC facilities currently employ over 500 people. In addition to the local economic development benefits, the environmental advantages of retrofitting existing buildings to enable the production of local goods by local workers are huge. The greenest building, after all, is the one you have already. GMDC’s model is starting to receive attention from other cities around the country eager to help bring industrial jobs back to their communities. We sat down with Brian Coleman, CEO of GMDC, to discuss this model, the changing nature of manufacturing and the increasing challenges to making buildings that respond to cultural, demographic and economic shifts in urban industry.”

Via: Urban Omnibus

Photo: courtesy of the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center.


05/21/12

9 notes

city planning  urban planning  EDC  economic development  industry  jobs  manufacturing  work 

Accent theme by Handsome Code

Architectural + Urban Research

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