Downtown Idea Exchange – Web Extras
For one city, keeping employers happy means hundreds of meetings a year — It also means retaining local college students. Economic developers in Dubuque, IA, surveyed regional college students about their aspirations after graduation and found 55 percent of those surveyed were unsure if they would remain in the area. Those findings spurred the Greater Dubuque Development Corp. to market the region to young workers. See the “You Can Make It In Dubuque” brochure.
...Pricey but effective, wayfinding signs are “voice of the city” — Springfield, MA, has seen major new developments in recent months, including the opening of a casino and the rehab of the city’s Union Station. To help guide visitors to the city center, Springfield invested $400,000 in a series of wayfinding signs installed in late 2018. Read the Sign Research Foundation’s guide to urban wayfinding. ...
By focusing on five key themes, downtowns attract millennials — New research from Arizona State University is providing insights into the type of downtown housing that millennials value. ...
Encouraging upper level residential — To spur residential development in downtown Bradenton, FL, the city recently approved two new programs. Click the links below to learn more. • Upstairs Residential Conversion Grant Program & Application • Restaurant and Food Services Incentive Program & Application ...
Like many cities, Durham, NC, wants commuters to take the bus, ride their bikes, and generally find ways to get downtown other than the standard solo drive. Unlike most cities, Durham is tapping into the discipline of behavioral economics to change drivers’ behavior. The first strategy, a planning tool algorithm, creates a personalized route that…
In Quincy, MA, a redevelopment boom is bearing fruit at precisely the wrong time, at least from a parking perspective. To ease the squeeze, Quincy has implemented a variety of strategies. At one city lot, Quincy more than doubled parking rates before 5 p.m. and offered free parking after 5 p.m. The city worked with churches to…
A few years ago, the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz decided to eliminate big events that attracted large numbers of visitors but also blocked traffic and disrupted business. Downtown leaders in the California city still wanted to bring visitors to the business district, however, so they shifted their focus to smaller gatherings centered around wine…
Every other week we post the summary of an article from Downtown Idea Exchange. Over the course of the year we’ve covered everything from business recruitment to streetscape improvements to placemaking. To wrap up the year, we’re highlighting five of our favorite posts. Creative, informative, and adaptable, they showcase some of the best work in downtown…
