As a capstone of a decade of efforts to turn the downtown river into an outdoor recreation paradise, the International Canoe Federation’s selected Uptown Columbus to host the freestyle kayak world championships. This Olympic-level event, featuring 211 athletes and officials, thrust Columbus’ waterway onto the international stage.
Award
Type: Award
Seattle City Makers Podcast
With new episodes published twice per month, the Seattle City Makers Podcast presents a conversational look at the people and issues impacting downtown Seattle and the city at large. Think of it as a dinner party for two, just without the meal. DSA President & CEO Jon Scholes sits down with diverse guests who tell their stories.
Storefront Improvements
To help minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs survive and thrive in a post-pandemic economy, the U District Partnership has taken various steps. It has streamlined permitting, provided architectural assistance, and injected $4.7 million of capital into the business community through three strategic grant programs.
The Crossing at East Cut
The Crossing at East Cut is a 3-acre city block within one of San Francisco’s newest multi-use, transit-oriented neighborhoods. Once a temporary bus terminal, the site has now become a central hub for community gatherings, active recreation, entertainment and social cohesion.
Path to Reconciliation
The Path to Reconciliation mural project was a collaborative initiative between Regina Downtown Business Improvement District (RDBID) and the Creative City Centre (CCC). The project was a 325 foot –long by 8-foot-wide path down the centre of the FW Hill Mall, on the 1800 block of Scarth Street.
Decatur Town Center Plan 2.0
With momentum on its side and quality of life in mind, the city’s comprehensive plan champions Downtown Decatur as best positioned to accommodate new growth and demand. As the mixed-use core of the city with access to transit, downtown is primed to continue to grow and improve.
Connecting the Future: NC A&T Autonomous Shuttle
Imagine seamless travel connecting communities and resources within the center city. This is the vision behind the Autonomous Shuttle Connector project, a collaboration between Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) and NC A&T State University. By offering diverse mobility options, the project aims to unlock the full potential of future developments in downtown Greensboro.
Broadway Plan
In June 2018, the City of Vancouver began a major, 3.5-year long, planning initiative to develop a comprehensive land use plan for the Broadway Area. The Broadway Plan provides a framework to guide growth and positive change in the Broadway neighbourhoods over 30 years.
Cultivating Human Connections – Not Just Employees
High rates of employee turnover, and chronic understaffing resulted in a cascade of negative consequences for the Downtown Seattle Association. To address these issues, the goal was to achieve full staffing levels and provide optimal services to stakeholders. At the same time, the DSA wanted to provide an exceptional experience for their team members and foster a more engaged workforce.
Social Media Ambassador Program
Downtown Durham, Inc. fosters a vibrant social media presence through a collaborative program with Social Media Ambassadors. These ambassadors attend various events throughout the downtown area and co-create Instagram posts for the DDI account.
Centre of Hope: Holistic Approach to Homelessness
The Centre of Hope (COH) was established to address pressing issues in the Parow community. It provides a safe space for the most vulnerable, offering access to social services, counselling and physical assistance. The primary goal is to support individuals in their journey to restoration, with a strong emphasis on change and job readiness.
HSQ Shopping Network
Recognizing the limitations of lengthy spoken presentations for audience engagement, HSBID opted for a novel approach for its annual meeting, a video presentation. The chosen format, a parody of the Home Shopping Channel, presented a unique challenge: balancing humor and satire with the need to convey the organization’s important work and the dedication of its staff.
Union Square in Bloom
Established in 2022, Union Square in Bloom celebrates the district’s floral legacy with a modern twist; encouraging residents, workers and visitors to rediscover and patronize our vibrant, full-circle offerings of hotels, restaurants, retail establishments, theater, fashion, cuisine, nightlife and beyond.
Downtown Days of Wonder
In Winter 2023, Downtown Tulsa Partnership (DTP) expanded the DDOW campaign launched in Winter 2022 to better connect and market existing downtown attractions, as well as encourage new holiday initiatives to benefit downtown visitors, residents, workers and businesses. Previously Downtown holiday attractions operated in silos without coordination.
YouTube Takeover Program
Columbus, GA, faced an unfortunate challenge. Despite experiencing a significant revitalization, Uptown was plagued by negative portrayals on YouTube. The platform’s search algorithm prioritized videos featuring violence, illegal activity, and other objectionable content. To combat this negative content, a bold initiative was launched to change the narrative on this crucial platform: the YouTube Takeover Program.
The Nicollet xChange
The Nicollet xChange is a vibrant, sustainability-focused weekly sidewalk marketplace. The curated experience offers a rotating selection of unique bite-sized offerings designed to foster a strong sense of community. This engaging pedestrian experience builds a profound sense of shared experience, both through the act of exchanging items and through the community atmosphere it cultivates.
HPCDC
The purpose of Hollywood Partnership Community Dispatch Center (HPCDC) was to establish a collaborative community hub that can receive non-emergency requests via call or text and initiate service responses within the Hollywood Entertainment District (HED).
Las Canchas de Futbol Communitarias
Las Canchas are three futsal, street soccer, courts that are open 24/7 and free for public use. The main goal of the project was to repurpose underutilized downtown surface parking into active, community-centered courts that invite and welcome all.
Ambassador Trikes
The purpose of the trike program was to increase the mobility, visibility and impact of the clean ambassadors’ work. The implementation of the trike program allowed the ambassadors to respond to more cleaning requests at a quicker pace.
Old School Square Revitalization
The purpose of this project was to reopen and reactivate Old School Square, a public facility made up of six separate, unique venues: the Cornell Art Museum, the Amphitheatre, the Vintage Gym, the Park and the Crest Theatre building.
OUR DWTN: Downtown Revitalization Project
The program aimed to boost visitation to downtown businesses and create a more vibrant street atmosphere. This was achieved through a combination of strategies: introducing new retail and pop-up food vendors, offering recreational and cultural programming, and organizing pop-up activations and placemaking initiatives.
Trojan Rocking Horses
The project consisted of eight life-sized rocking horses, each designed by local children and fabricated locally. The horses traveled throughout various neighborhoods, collecting over 1,300 messages from citizens about their hopes and aspirations for the city and downtown area.
AdAmAn Alley
AdAmAn Alley is a placemaking initiative transforming the interior of a city block and honoring the unique role of the AdAmAn Club in the region’s history. There are two light art elements that run after sunset in addition to string lighting throughout the alley that creates a sense of comfort regardless of the time of day.
Grand Ave Augmented
Downtown Center BID (DCBID) pioneered Grand Ave Augmented, an augmented reality (AR) experience featuring more than 40 AR activations by over 30 artists and creators. Part exhibition, part walking tour, the project was designed to attract and engage downtowners and visitors by showcasing Grand Avenue’s world-class arts and culture, along with its beautiful architecture and public spaces.
Hill City Eats: A Downtown Lynchburg Cookbook
In 2022, Downtown Lynchburg Association (DLA) set out to create a one-of-a-kind cookbook highlighting the diverse restaurant scene that has breathed new life into the city in the past 20 years. This work culminated in a stunning 172-page hardcover casebound book which sold out its first run of 1,000 copies in under two months.
Flatiron NoMad Rebrand & Website Initiative
With the BID boundary expansion and the continued challenges presented by the pandemic, district stakeholders and audiences need the Parntership’s focus and resources more than ever. Through a clear, compelling and distinct brand positioning strategy and graphic identity, the organization is poised to tap into the expertise and energy of stakeholders.
River District Clean and Safe Team
The Public Space Team, under the guidance of the Clean and Safe program manager keeps the River District public areas, such as streets, sidewalks, bike lanes and parks, free of stains, litter, graffiti and bad odors. Most candidates have been referred to the team through, a volunteer work program or local shelters and service providers.
Vanier HUB
The Vanier HUB placemaking project activated an underused parking lot adjacent to the Mainstreet. By creating this one-of-a-kind community and arts space, the first of its kind in Ottawa, the ZAC Vanier BIA invited people to come rediscover Vanier – a community previously known for poverty and crime.
Downtown Gainesville Strategic Plan
Through close collaboration with the Gainesville community, MKSK developed a Strategic Plan for Downtown Gainesville that aligns with and complements current plans and initiatives, builds on existing assets, uplifts adjacent historically African American neighborhoods, supports new residential and business opportunities, and focuses on specific steps for implementation.
Capital City Development Corporation Participation Program
The Participation Program is designed to advance the aims of urban renewal and economic development in downtown Boise, as well as goals identified in the Boise City comprehensive plan, Blueprint Boise. These goals include activating dormant or disinvested sites, expanding utility infrastructure, improving user mobility and connectivity, and encouraging compact development.
City Building Boot Camp Tours
The City Building Boot Camp Tours were curated by the Regina Downtown BID and Regina’s Warehouse BID to highlight best practices in urban revitalization from other Canadian cities in the hope of inspiring current and future projects in the City of Regina.
Downtown Pittsburgh Restaurant Recovery Initiative
COVID-19 necessitated new and innovative initiatives, and a radical departure from how the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP) had previously supported the downtown neighborhood. It also required PDP to identify funding sources and build partnerships to expedite plans that would have an immediate and lasting impact on Pittsburgh’s downtown restaurant economy.
Downtown Days of Wonder Pop-Up Shops
Downtown Days of Wonder (DDOW) is a holiday activation program held from November to January in downtown Tulsa. In 2022, a new pop-up shop initiative was piloted for DDOW, designed to increase the amount of retail offerings downtown for holiday shopping while amplifying the work of local minority small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Pop-Up Shops at Martin Street
Pop-Up Shops at Martin Street is a retail incubator program in the core of downtown Raleigh. The program is designed to increase the diversity of ownership in downtown Raleigh and build a pipeline of new, independent, local retail to fill storefront space in downtown Raleigh. The project is a partnership effort of many local partners.
Hudson Street Redesign
The Hudson Street Redesign transformed a seven-block corridor in Hudson Square on Manhattan’s lower west side. Part of the Hudson Square BID’s first 10-year neighborhood streetscape plan, the improvements were made possible by an unprecedented partnership among the Hudson Square BID, NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), and the NYC Department of Transportation (NYCDOT).
Winthrop Family Historical Garden
Twenty years after the original dedication of the Winthrop Family Historical Garden, the garden had become overgrown and was not serving the community in the way it was originally intended. Made possible through city grant funding, Uptown United was able to oversee a complete garden renovation to better align with current community needs.
Parramore Asset Stabilization Fund: New Directions in Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization
In 2018, the Parramore Asset Stabilization Fund (PASF) was formed as a collaboration of three high-performing nonprofits with the goal to transform affordable rental housing into sustainable quality homes. PASF purchased 83 residential units across 44 properties in Orlando’s African American Parramore neighborhood, with a commitment to renovate units and keep rents affordable for existing tenants. While delayed due to COVID-19, the project was successfully completed by December 2021.
Let’s Glow SF
Let’s Glow SF is a 10-night holiday activation, the largest holiday projection mapping event in the country. Shows were played in a continuous loop with custom music starting at 5:30 pm and ending at 10:00 pm. Each light show ranged in length from five to seven minutes. Let’s Glow SF received wide media praise for its innovative use of art and technology to bring visitors and workers back to downtown, which had been suffering under the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ATL Downtown Counts: Street Homelessness Survey
The Atlanta Downtown Improvement District conducted the first and only real-time enumeration survey of street homelessness targeted solely in downtown Atlanta and funded by the Community Improvement District. The survey was an all-volunteer, one-day outdoor event adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. Partner agencies included the Atlanta Police Department, the ADID Ambassador Force and a large group of downtown business and residential stakeholders.
Marriages on The Mile – Weddings at Wrigley
Marriages on The Mile – Weddings at Wrigley was a first-time event collaboration between The Magnificent Mile Association and The Wrigley Building/Zeller. It existed as the premier event of a larger closed-street activation series on Michigan Avenue. The event featured 50 real-time weddings for couples displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic in a very public, very Chicago-centric location on The Magnificent Mile as part of the free, accessible lineup of programming on September 26, 2021.