Sunday, February 24, 2008
In downtown, every day is a new production
From the RoundTable blog
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David M. Feehan
Feehan is president of International Downtown Association in Washington, D.C.
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances.
Or so said William Shakespeare in "As You Like It." More recently, a friend of mine, Pat Norris, who directs the downtown museum in Kalamazoo, said, "Downtown is the stage on which we celebrate our community."
So what, exactly, is "downtown"? Is it the place that has the tallest buildings? The place to which all the buses and trains seem to go? The place with cool loft condos and trendy restaurants? The place that attracts homeless people, panhandlers and others who make us feel uncomfortable? Is it all of the above? And if it's truly a stage, who are the actors, producers, directors and audience?
Downtown Roanoke, like so many other downtowns in the U.S. and elsewhere, has undergone a transformation in the past decade or so. For centuries, our "city centers" were the place where we built, enhanced and protected those things that we as civilized people valued most: our arts and culture, our governance, our marketplace, our houses of worship, education and health. But at some point in the 20th century, we allowed these centers to decay.
It's not as though we walked away from city centers and downtowns entirely. We tried lots of things -- mostly one-shot solutions. We built pedestrian malls, transit malls, convention centers, arenas, festival markets, aquariums and a host of other "magic bullets." We told ourselves, "If only we build this, it will fix everything." And time after time, those hopes came unraveled as attendance and usage did not meet projections, and the expected ripple effect never happened.
What downtown leaders at the time didn't understand -- and most Americans knew only intuitively -- is that the success of any place, especially a place like downtown, depends on the experience it offers.
About 20 years ago, a few of these downtown leaders came to a fundamental realization -- if a place wasn't clean and safe, people would avoid it. Business Improvement Districts, or BIDs as they are commonly known these days, were the answer to "clean and safe." Through a special assessment put in place by a vote of property owners, a downtown organization could provide a much higher level of maintenance and security than city government or voluntary organizations could. And BIDs became common in almost every city in the U.S.
But that, as researchers are fond of saying, was necessary but not sufficient. Just because a place was clean and safe didn't make it attractive and friendly. Voila! Downtown organizations added "attractive and friendly" to their missions, and hired "downtown ambassadors," planted flowers and hung banners from light poles.
And while urban pioneers started moving into old warehouses, and adventurous entrepreneurs opened a few trendy restaurants, downtown, while becoming edgy, was still not "cool" to most people.
How then did downtowns become so cool in only a decade or so? Why is it that shopping center developers have literally stopped building regional enclosed malls and are now designing town centers and lifestyle centers that mimic downtown and main street motifs?
The answers to these questions are still incomplete; but we can see some concepts and trends that will help us to build on what we do know and will allow places like downtown Roanoke to thrive.
Among the most important lessons we've learned are these:
n Downtown has an essential place in society. It is the heart and soul of any community. Suburbs without downtowns are investing millions of dollars to build them. Downtowns are the community stage, but they are also the community living room. They are the place where all -- without respect to income, age, race, ethnicity, gender or other characteristics -- can feel at home.
n Downtown is an authentic place. It delivers what it advertises. It's more than an office park, an amusement park, a residential district or an adult playground. Its buildings and public spaces -- streets, sidewalks and parks -- convey a sense of importance in their design. We know it when we see it -- and we know that it's real.
n Downtown is a unique, positive and memorable experience. Each downtown has its own DNA. Downtown Portland, Maine, and downtown Portland, Ore. are easily distinguishable from one another. Both are enjoyable places to spend an hour, a day, a weekend or a week. Both leave locals and visitors alike with great memories and a desire to return. Yet they are different.
What else have we learned? Great downtowns, "cool" downtowns, don't just happen. They are conceived, designed and created by people who understand what makes them great. They are managed, maintained and marketed by organizations that focus not only on the next big project but also on who picks up the trash, how often and how well.
Great downtowns are seductive, magical, sensual places. They appeal as much to our hearts and our guts as to our heads. Great downtowns are like great theater. Every day is a new production, and that production only happens if the producers, actors, stagehands and directors all do their parts. If he were alive today, Shakespeare would be applauding.
