Bill Fulton, a city council member for Ventura, California, offers an insider's view on adoption of the city's downtown retail and office strategy. The consultant's report.
"Last night, the council gave the green-light for the 'Downtown Retail and Office Strategy'. This marks the first time that we have had a game plan not just for downtown real estate but for downtown business – based on our understanding of why people go downtown, what they buy, and what businesses are doing well there."
..."Focus on arts-related offices. There's considerable evidence that arts-related office-based businesses are congregating downtown, mostly because of the arts and culture scene. Drawing more of them is a good idea. But there are lots of other businesses – known in the economic development business as the 'creative class' – who like to be in artsy areas too. These include design professionals, software companies, entrepreneurs, and consultants who engage in a lot of creative work and like to be in a creative environment."
The second link also includes a link to download a PDF version of the agenda item and the Retail & Office Market Analysis and Business Development Plan for Downtown Ventura report produced by The Community Land Use and Economics Group, LLC (CLUE).
FULL STORY: The Downtown Strategy
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Placer County
Mayors' Institute on City Design
City of Sunnyvale
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), the Department of City and Regional Planning (CRP)
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
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Baton Rouge Area Foundation