Baby Boomers per day will reach retirementage. While most of the Baby Boomers willretire in the same location, according to U.S.News and World Report, those who move will“no longer flock toseniors-only retirementcommunities but are like-ly to choose walkablecommunities with lots ofamenities, recreationalopportunities, and resi-dents from all age groups.” City leaders inresilient downtowns such as Greenville, SC,have recognized this potential and have tai-lored their downtown redevelopment strategiesto include the provision of housing and otheramenities to attract this population cohort.

Several studies also lend support to thistrend. For example, University of Virginiaprofessor William Lucy, in his recent bookForeclosing the Dream (2010), found a turn-around in metropolitan living preferences witha “revival of interest in cities on the part ofmiddle-class whites.” Lucy attributed thischange in preference for city living to a“fondness for older homes,” and the desire tolive close to city amenities.

Similarly, the Brookings Institution’s studyof Who Lives Downtown (Eugenie Birch,

Perspectives

A new four-point strategy for downtown renewalBy Michael A. Burayidi, Ph.D.

The Main Street Four-Point Approach hasbecome the mantra for cities and towns seekingto revitalize their downtowns. For many down-towns, these four strategies represent a faitaccompli of their redevelopment efforts.

Organization, promotion, design, and eco-nomic restructuring are all necessary, but notsufficient for ensuring the health of down-towns. This is particularly the case for small-city downtowns. My research shows thatcommunities with resilient downtowns incorpo-rated the following four strategies in theirdowntown revitalization efforts:

• They have capitalized on the retirementpreferences of Baby Boomers that favordowntown living;

• They have enacted programs to attractrecent immigrants to their downtowns;

• They have linked their historic preserva-tion efforts to the promotion of heritagetourism; and

• They have retained and expanded civicand cultural buildings in their downtown.

Small cities that have not embraced thesefour strategies in revitalizing their downtownshave languished behind. Here is why these fourstrategies matter for small-city downtowns.

Attracting Baby Boomers. From nowuntil 2030 in the U.S., an average of 10,000

This article was reprinted from the November 2010 issue of Downtown Idea Exchange.Interested readers may subscribe to the monthly newsletter by visiting http://www.downtowndevelopment.com or phoning (973) 265-2300.

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Essential Information for Downtown Revitalization

DowntownIdea Exchange

November 2010

“Downtowns are the onlyplaces where buildingshave meaning and wherethere is a sense of place.”

2005) found that the downtown populationaged 45 to 64 years increased from about 17 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2000, anupswing by the Baby Boom generation. TheAARP’s study of the retirement preferences of Baby Boomers also noted that while previ-ous generations sought communities in the traditional retirement regions that have awarmer climate, an increasing number of Baby Boomers are seeking to relocate to high-amenity regions and communities and toplaces that provide them with an opportunityfor an active lifestyle. Baby Boomers alsopreferred communities with lower taxes thatalso have a small-town feel. Consequently, ofthe 15 top places identified by the AARPstudy, eight were small cities and towns suchas Loveland/Fort Collins, CO, Greenville, SC,Montpelier, VT, Las Cruces, NM, andRehoboth Beach, DE.

Attracting recent immigrants. Courtingrecent immigrants to downtowns is a secondstrategy that cities with resilient downtownshave embraced as part of their revitalizationefforts. Recent immigrants are a major seg-ment of the first-time homebuyer market —much of which is located in or near downtownneighborhoods. Small-city downtowns in par-ticular stand to benefit from a new trendtowards small-city living by immigrants.Recent immigrants to the U.S. are no longersettling exclusively in large metropolitan areas.They are now populating the countryside inpredominantly rural states such as Idaho, Iowa,Maine, and North and South Dakota. Many aredrawn to these small cities and towns byopportunities for farm work, and in food pro-cessing and meat packing plants that do notrequire fluency in English. The lower cost ofliving and relative peace and quiet of the coun-tryside are forces that attract immigrants tosmall towns.

For example, a study by Pyong-gap Min,director of the Research Center for the Kore-an Community at Queens College and Chi-gon Kim, at Wright State College in Dayton,OH, revealed that recent Korean immigrantsare moving beyond their 10 usual “gateway

cities” to start their “second lives” in smallercities and towns. The authors attribute thisshift in behavior to both the financial costs ofliving in large cities and “the sense of easeKoreans feel in smaller towns.”

Small towns such as Lewiston, ME, arebenefitting from such immigrants in renewingtheir downtown. Close to a thousand Somaliimmigrants call downtown Lewiston home. Inthe 1990s Mayor Jurczynski of the City ofSchenectady, NY, brought busloads ofGuyanese immigrants to tour his city so hecould showcase the housing potential that thecity provides. These tours convinced theimmigrants that small-town living offeredthem better prospects than life in the big city.Today Guyanese immigrants make up 10 per-cent of the city’s population. Once desolatedowntown streets in Schenectady are nowbustling with people and retail activity.

Linking historic preservation with her-itage tourism. Cities with resilient downtownshave also adopted a third strategy in theirdowntown revitalization efforts. They havelinked historic preservation to the promotion ofheritage tourism. Heritage tourism is travelgeared to experiencing authentic places andactivities that tell the stories of people’s cultureand history. These places provide tourists withthe opportunity to witness in situ the wondersof diverse cultures. Heritage and culturaltourism are intricately linked to historic preser-vation. As John L. Nau, chairman of the Advi-sory Council on Historic Preservation observedin 2004, historic preservation and heritagetourism are yoked concepts, and historicpreservation is the key to unlocking the eco-nomic engine of heritage tourism.

The heritage of most cities is in theirdowntown. While many large cities have deci-mated their heritage through urban renewalprojects, small-city downtowns still boast aplethora of such sites and buildings that canprovide the experiences heritage tourists seekin their travels. Downtowns are the onlyplaces where buildings have meaning andwhere there is a sense of place. Downtownsare where a community’s story is told, its cul-

© 2010 Alexander Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

ture is on display, and its history can be nar-rated. Small towns have an added advantagein that they provide affordable tourism desti-nations. Thus communities such as Nacog-doches, TX, and Apex, NC, have linkedhistoric preservation efforts to heritagetourism and are reaping the benefits of thisgrowing sector of the economy.

The unique heritage of downtowns, andthe opportunities that downtowns offer forwalking, biking, and for chance encountersare all appealing assets of small-city down-towns. And there is one more advantage toheritage tourism: People approaching retire-ment often travel to many interesting loca-tions before making their minds up about themost desirable place to relocate. Thus her-itage and cultural tourism can be used as arecruiting tool for attracting retiring BabyBoomers who now seek small-town living.

Keeping downtown the center of civicand cultural life. Finally, retaining andexpanding the location of civic and culturalbuildings in the downtown should be thefourth prong in downtown revitalization. For along time, civic buildings such as courthouses,municipal offices, police stations and jails aswell as newspaper offices, stadiums and ballparks, all located in or near downtown. Lately,however, such activities are facing increasingpressure to relocate to the fringe. Built at theturn of the 19th Century, many of these civicbuildings have become functionally obsolete,as their size has not kept up with the volumeof services that they are now required to provide. Others are in violation of building

codes because of the difficulty of retrofittingthem to meet current building standards. Inrecognition of the potential of such buildingsto help revitalize the downtowns in which theyare located, visionary community and civicleaders have fought to retain their presence inthe downtown. A study by the University ofWisconsin Extension, for example, found thatcommunities with “county seats had 8.4 per-cent more businesses in their downtowns thancomparison communities with few or no coun-ty offices downtown.”

Public buildings are a stronger and moresignificant presence in the downtowns ofsmall urban communities than in large cities.Thus, ensuring the presence of these buildingsin the central city contributes to the vitality ofsmall-city downtowns. Civic buildings createfoot traffic in the downtown and help supportlocal businesses such as restaurants where thedowntown workers eat, businesses related tothe legal profession, and bars where down-town workers socialize in their down time.Ensuring the continuous presence of thesebuildings in small-city downtowns is criticalto downtown renewal. Communities that capi-talize on and promote such civic activity inthe downtown will remain healthy.Michael A. Burayidi, Ph.D., is a professor and thechair of the Department of Urban Planning at BallState University, Muncie, IN. This column is adaptedfrom his book Resilient Downtowns: A NewApproach to Revitalizing Small- and Medium-CityDowntowns. The book is available from the Downtown Research & Development Center atwww.DowntownDevelopment.com/rd.php.

© 2010 Alexander Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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