William Hudnut on Urban Revitalization

This is a must read for all of you trying to sort out future direction on urban revitalization efforts, especially those focused on downtown areas, sports and convention facilities and other investments likely to put financial pressures on local government.

At the United States Conference of Mayors in June, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said: “Cities are the economic engines that drive regions forward. But the state and federal governments want us to get there on an empty tank of gas.”

Things have not been good across America's cities, especially in the past three years. The combination of a relatively sudden drop in revenues coupled with increased security demands -- estimated nationally to be as high as $100 billion -- have certainly put the pinch on city budgets. In fact, states appear unable to compensate for funding shortfalls -- the National Governors Association reports that 45 states face deficits totaling about $40 billion for the current budget period -- and the federal government seems at best reluctant to directly address the needs of America’s inner cities.

In the name of fiscal restraint and improved security -- with little help from the federal level on that score -- city governments are apparently left little choice but to make cuts in infrastructure, education and social services. These elements, however, may be just the expenditures necessary to not just sustain, but also capitalize, on the back-to-the-city movement that seems on the verge of truly reversing decades of population and business flight, while at the same time stem the erosion of the core business district.

Although in today’s economic and political reality there seems to be little money to spare, if we are going to sustain the economic viability of our urban core, can we afford not to make these investments?

Reis’s Sam Truitt asks William Hudnut, a Senior Resident Fellow with the Urban Land Institute, to locate the importance of that question within his vision of the evolution of downtown districts, while also plumbing his take on what constitutes a successful urban revitalization plan. Go here to read the interview.