The “Community Entertainment District” Designation as a Tool for Urban Redevelopment in Cincinnati, Ohio (original) (raw)
2010
Finally, limited financial and technical support from the state may have reduced districts' capacity to market incentives. District managers cite challenges including the lack of consistent funding and paid staff. While the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) offers a Technical Assistance Grant, funds available for certain projects through the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund (MEDAAF) are underused. Changes in program administration at the state level and a current staffing shortage may limit technical support to districts. Case studies of Baltimore's Station North and Highlandtown A&E districts illustrate challenges and the role of resources and management capacity in district growth. The use of incentives appears to be relatively low in both districts; however, arts businesses are increasing in Station North while the Highlandtown arts district has stagnated. To encourage art district growth, we make recommendations at the state and local level to improve tax incentive design and enhance state and local support. First, data collection on incentive use and the economic impact of the arts must be enhanced and coordinated between state and local agencies. The definition of artistic work should be broadened to facilitate greater use of the income tax deduction, while the property tax credit should be flexible enough to meet local needs. MSAC should hire a coordinator dedicated to the A&E program to promote the availability of funding sources and provide technical assistance to district managers. In Baltimore, we recommend a moratorium on new A&E district designation while current district managers market unique district identities; partner with anchor institutions, city agencies and local organizations to increase opportunities for artists; and develop an interactive website to link artists with resources. To support districts, the City should continue to promote affordability and property improvement.
Cultural Development Strategies and Urban Revitalization: A Survey of US Cities
Municipal governments around the globe increasingly turn to museums, performing arts centers, arts districts, and other cultural activities to promote and revitalize their cities. While a significant body of literature examines revitalization strategies that focus primarily around entertainment and commerce, the empirical body of research that specifically investigates the role of cultural strategies in urban redevelopment is still growing. This paper first discusses the development of municipal cultural strategies in the United States, and draws from the literature to outline the characteristics of three different models of such strategies. Second, the paper presents findings from a national survey distributed to municipal agencies involved in the promotion and development of cultural activities and facilities in large and medium-sized US cities. The survey data indicate that although most agencies are guided by a varied set of goals, entrepreneurial objectives continue to guide the development and support of cultural activities in most cities.
Cities as Entertainment Centers: Can Transformative Projects Create Place?
2013
Cities have long been identified as centers for entertainment. By historical evolution or deliberate public policy, across the globe the core of the entertainment industry has lodged itself in the city center. Times Square in New York and the West End of London may be the most iconic centers, but Toronto's Entertainment Center and Cleveland's Playhouse Square derive from a similar centralizing root, as did Potsdamer Platz before the Berlin Wall divided that city. City life itself is often considered theater, a place of real-time performance, street dance, and impromptu staccato of entertainment. Akin to this informal, popular side of city entertainment, amusement parks first found vibrant, if temporary, expression in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, whereas by the turn of the century the People's Playground of Coney Island had become the uncontested epicenter of America's emerging mass culture. As an idea to shape and promote city identity and draw large numbers of tourists and residents, arts districts fashioned out of whole cloth and invented by public policy began to spring into being in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Kansas City and numerous other urban centers in the 1980s. Whether for livetheater performance, mass amusement, or arts entertainment, as a location of centrality, cities have 2 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx long had a competitive advantage, and this has been no less the case as evolving cultural notions of entertainment increasingly have shifted to sports events and produced new large-format entertainment centers such as London's O2, L.A. Live!, and Amsterdam ArenA. Some of these new-generation entertainment centers have been developed in the core of cities, yet others on the periphery of a center city. In either urban location, the overriding function of the initiative, typically a public-private venture brought about through public intervention and helped along with public financial assistance, is a sought-after transformation of place. Not infrequently, entertainment projects, particularly sports centers, have evoked high-profile controversy and conflict, and questions of public purpose and public benefit (Fulton 1997, Noll and Zimbalist 1997, Gruen 1998, Goss 1999, Chapin 2004). 1 1 Sports stadia have been the focus of numerous studies seeking to evaluate the economic return involved for the owners and cities providing financial support. The results have been consistently negative: baseball parks seldom, if ever pay their own way or create real economic development (Baim 1994, Noll and Zimbalist 1997, Rosentraub 1997), though downtown locations may create more position impacts that other locations (Melaniphy 1996), all cited in Newsome and Comer 2000. In fact, empirical analysis by Newsome and Comer show that the suburbanization trend long associated with the location of U.S. major sporting venue construction is reversing itself, with resurgence in downtown venues. They attribute this to a concomitant trend toward smaller market franchises, increasing corporate sponsorship, deliberate downtown revitalization strategies, and the advantages accruing to owners when different parts of an urban area compete for franchises. Nelson's analysis of the location of major league stadiums in twenty-five U.S. metropolitan areas (2002) showed that in terms of capturing share of economic activity, the best location for professional sports stadiums appears to be downtown (including the central business district and nearby "edge" areas), followed by other locations in the central city, while suburban locations appeared to be associated with the least amount of economic activity. 3 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx 6 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx 7 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx More than simple economic diversity is involved, though. According to Richard Florida and his colleagues, cities, especially the largest cities, 2 2 Based on empirical analysis of the entertainment industry across U.S. metropolitan areas from 1970 to 2000, Florida and his colleagues suggest that geographic economies of scope are triggered only in large cities and regions where a certain minimum scale can be reached. In the U.S. they found that entertainment sector as a whole and its key subsectors are significantly concentrated in two superstar cities-New York and Los Angeles-more so than their scale effects, measured by population, would suggest. 8 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx 9 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx 10 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx 19 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx experience as ''a place that takes you back to that time of innocence" (Goodnough 2004). The 5,000acre mixed-use product has been heavily criticized for its negative environmental impacts but mostly for its elite, homogenous, and inauthentic nature, giving fuel to critics of "Disneyfication" of place (Stutzman 1991; Zukin 1996; Blair 2001; James 2012). In other cases, commercial and residential development has grown around once-isolated parks due to regional growth patterns, which raises the question: How can these private, gated arrangements become integrated into the broader urban or suburban fabric? Public Entertainment Nodes. Unlike private amusement parks, public entertainment nodes offer open or free access to clusters of live entertainment, themed entertainment, amusements, exhibition space, or restorative design. While there may be fees for using particular elements (e.g. rides, observation decks), visitors are free to choose to observe, engage, or partake in entertainment activities or in the theatre city life discussed earlier in the paper. These nodes usually evolve on publicly owned, managed, operated, financed, or administered land, although the public sector may have private or nonprofit partnerships or franchise arrangements with vendors, land owners, unions, exhibitors, or others. Public amusement parks, fairgrounds, open space, and parkland are the common sites in urban core, urban periphery, suburban, and rural areas. While they have usually been part of tourism-centered strategies, they are increasingly used to catalyze private-sector investment and as a strategy to create place. Examples include Coney Island in Brooklyn, South Street SeaPort in Lower Manhattan, Fair Park on the outskirts of Dallas, San Antonio Riverwalk, Millennium Park and the Navy Pier in downtown Chicago. These illustrations demonstrate the ways that these public entertainment nodes operate across a range of places within city life, from more isolated projects to integrated activities creating different ways of place-making and place identity for tourists, residents, and passerbys. 20 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx Pop-Up Clusters. Outside of entertainment-oriented projects or facilities that become a permanent or semi-permanent part of the built environment, there are also temporary nodes of increased activity. These pop-up clusters are part of a larger flux movement happening in urban, suburban, rural, and wildland communities, which transcends the physical or built environment through planned or impromptu programming and activity (Hack 2011). As impermanent concentrations, they take over a single site or an accumulation of scattered or connected sites for a temporary period time ranging from a few hours to a few years. Pop-up events can accommodate diverse forms of entertainment-music, film, and art festivals, for example-as well as being concentrated in a single site or dispersed throughout the city. Social media is making pop-up events an increasingly common entertainment format. Typically market-initiated spurts, they can attract large numbers of tourists; however, the economic impact varies depending upon whether spillover occurs, if the promoters and vendors are locally-based, and if the municipality has negotiated good terms for their services and land. Some of the more common pop-up clusters include South by Southwest in Austin, Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee, Jazzfest and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Treefort Music Festival in Boise, 43 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx 46 C:\Users\lbs4\Documents\Papers\Amsterdam_2013\FINAL DRAFT FILES\Cities as Entertainment Centers_Sagalyn_Johnson_012413.docx
Cultural Development Strategies and Urban Revitalization
International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2007
Municipal governments around the globe increasingly turn to museums, performing arts centers, arts districts, and other cultural activities to promote and revitalize their cities. While a significant body of literature examines revitalization strategies that focus primarily around entertainment and commerce, the empirical body of research that specifically investigates the role of cultural strategies in urban redevelopment is still growing. This paper first discusses the development of municipal cultural strategies in the United States, and draws from the literature to outline the characteristics of three different models of such strategies. Second, the paper presents findings from a national survey distributed to municipal agencies involved in the promotion and development of cultural activities and facilities in large and medium-sized US cities. The survey data indicate that although most agencies are guided by a varied set of goals, entrepreneurial objectives continue to guide the development and support of cultural activities in most cities.
The Creative City and the Redevelopment of the Toronto Entertainment District
This paper analyses the conceptualization phase of the Toronto Entertainment District regeneration initiative, as a project led by the local Business Improvement Area Association. We study how the creative city concept is applied in the context of regeneration, and why stakeholders use it to legitimate regeneration strategies embodied in a Master Plan. We relate this analysis to the governance arrangements for this case study. Our main conclusion is that the creative city concept translates strongly in the place-making aspect of the project, and serves the objective of a specific set of stakeholders to enhance the identity of the area and foster the attraction of new residents and businesses.
2013
Cultural districts are an increasingly popular and important element of both urban and cultural experiences in the United States. Cultural districts get invoked as a tool for revitalising neighbourhoods and regions, cultivating arts and cultural resources, and other goals. This article briefly describes the phenomenon of cultural districts in the United States, reviews some claims made about their impacts, and provides evidence of districts’ effects. Neighourhood-level statistical analyses identify socioeconomic trends in neighbourhoods affected by districts. The results reflect the heterogeneity in cultural districts and in cities’ experiences with them. The findings inform policies supporting creative placemaking in general and cultural districts as a system.
This paper contributes to the creative city-community development arts policy debate by examining the association of arts organizations to various neighborhood contexts in New York City. Results from multivariate regression analyses show that arts organizations regardless of type are positioned to serve the creative class rather than play a community development role. Notably, only a small subset of locally focused organizations and organizations with smaller expenditures locate in disadvantaged and immigrant neighborhoods where they might play a direct role in community development. Instead, most arts organizations tend to locate in the most highly urbanized, amenities-rich areas with young working singles and creative industries. These findings raise important questions for incorporating the arts into neighborhood planning efforts.
Cultural Initiatives and Local Development: A Basis for Inclusive Neighborhood Revitalization
Urban Planning, 2019
This article focuses on cultural and creative activities and the development of local communities. Several studies on North America, Europe and Latin America have shown that this type of activity may have a positive impact on the local economy and living environments, and in particular on the sense of territorial belonging and on relations between citizens. In this text, we propose a reading of the impact of neighborhood cultural initiatives in the context of local socio-economic development based on a set of indicators of the local cultural vitality of a neighborhood. The empirical research was carried out in Montreal, namely on two boroughs: Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Sud-Ouest.
Strengthening downtown public spaces in our smaller communities
Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, 2019
N. David Milder is founder and President of DANTH, Inc., a nationally recognised authority on downtown revitalisation. For over 43 years he has utilised his market research and management skills to assess the potentials of downtowns and recommend revitalisation and recruitment strategies and programmes. David also has managed several downtown special districts, and authored three books and numerous articles. His recent research has focused on the new normal for our downtowns, central social districts (CSD) and smaller communities. Abstract Today, downtowns large and small are facing the challenges of the new normal, especially a contraction in retail-drawn customer traffic. Vibrant parks and public spaces can fill the slack and help maintain and grow a downtown's pool of visitors. Too many of them in smaller communities focus just on being event venues, however, while failing to provide the simple amenities and programming that are essential to attracting users on non-event days. This paper suggests that properly located public spaces can successfully target and attract the daytime markets segments present in these smaller communities, if the appropriate and affordable programming and improvements are made.