Knowledge Center
Leadership Development
Leadership is the ability to positively influence those over whom we have no authority. Successful urban place management begins with successful leadership that inspires trust, inclusivity and vision. The place manager inspires a culture of leadership and vision that permeates the organization. In addition, they assume a leadership role in creating a long-term strategic plan for a managed place while building an internal team focused on implementing and promoting the mission, values and objectives of that plan. The urban place manager must build meaningful relationships with various stakeholders including, but not limited to, board members, property owners, nonprofit partners, government officials, residents and business owners. Place managers are proactive, industrious and creative community leaders.
Scioto Greenways
Rarely do you get a chance to completely change the way people view a city, but the Scioto Greenways project did just that, both literally and figuratively. The revitalized Downtown Riverfront project, which was led by the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC), not only provided a new view of the city, it also created a renewed sense of civic pride and excitement about the possibilities of the riverfront.
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Downtown Topeka Public Space
The Kansas Avenue Project is a collaborative effort to address infrastructure replacement and topside enhancements responsive to improving the quality of place and encourage reinvestment and business activity in downtown Topeka. Public and private partnership raised $3.8 millon toward the creation of pocket parks, pavilions, fountains, arches, medallions, statues and state symbols that add to the beauty and appeal of downtown Topeka.
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The 360 Plan
In partnership with the City of Dallas, Downtown Dallas, Inc. (DDI) developed The 360 Plan, a five-year comprehensive and strategic plan for a clear, cohesive vision for downtown’s future. To achieve this vision, Downtown Dallas 360 set forth specific, implementable actions that support Downtown’s long-term vibrancy and success, including transit, streets, public spaces, urban design, housing, and parking.
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Vision Cedar Rapids Downtown Framework Plan
In 2007, the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance commissioned the first Vision Cedar Rapids Downtown Framework Plan to mold a clear, unified vision for downtown, which directly informed the planning efforts in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 flood event. With the framework for flood recovery in place, the plan was updated in 2017 to launch to an even bigger and broader plan for the future.
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LIT CITY Baltimore
In 2016, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore set its sights on Preston Gardens, a green space in Downtown Baltimore positioned between the upper and lower lanes of St. Paul Street, a major artery into the city. With many projects underway, including new color-changing LED lights in the tunnel, the Marketing & Communications team brainstormed events that would engage and excite residents. The team had the idea for a party in the gardens, and it became a massive success!
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Reimagining Girls’ Night Out
Oh man, Girls’ Night Out? Hasn’t that been done (to death)? Hold on a second, though. Downtown Somerville’s Girls’ Night Out is worth a look exactly because the concept is…well, maybe a little moth-eaten. If you can give an event enough of a makeover to change minds about what Girls’ Night Out is supposed to be, sell out the event a week in advance, and give skeptical businesses one of their most profitable nights of the year (at least 65 conversions on average), that’s worth talking about.
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Oswego, New York, DRI Strategic Investment Plan
The small city of Oswego parlayed a $10 million state grant into more than $50 million in new downtown investment. Even after years of decline, Oswego retains some important assets to build on: walkable scale, historic buildings, and a beautiful setting on the Oswego River. The city won state funding to create a plan that identified specific projects, explained how they would benefit downtown, and showed that they could attract other money.
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Retail Strategic Plan
The City of Cambridge is experiencing rapid changes in consumer purchasing habits; in particular the growth in on-line shopping that impacts traditional downtown districts. The city realized that they needed to better understand these macro trends, and needed guidance to enable city staff and leaders, as well and the business community to develop best practice policy prescriptions that could be effectively implemented by the City and embraced by the community.
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High-Performing Urban District CEOs
This report explores the leadership skills required to run a dynamic, successful place management organization.
Read More2016 Quantifying the Value of Canadian Downtowns: A Research Toolkit
This toolkit is a groundbreaking effort to provide a downtown data standard, a common set of data and processes that will help Canadian place management organizations, such as BIAs/BIDs, establish and sustain evaluation and compare progress among downtowns. While this toolkit is geared towards Canadian downtowns, it also is of value for urban districts outside of Canada who are looking to move toward data standardization and data best practices. In the toolkit, organizations will find
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