Many cities see new iconic buildings as a major element in recreating themselves into distinctive places. But if every city has distinctive buildings, the distinctiveness is diminished. This commentary argues for new revitalization ideas.
"Banks of glass-fronted residential apartments, shiny new shopping malls, creative industry quarters, art galleries and museums recycled from old industrial buildings, a piece of "iconic" public art: these have become the stock-in-trade features of the revitalized English city in recent years, from Newcastle to Birmingham."
"Throw in a bit of social history and a bit of popular culture - a football stadium fit to grace the Premier League, say, or a state-of-the art concert venue - and there you have it, a shiny, thrusting new municipal identity. Anywhere, it seemed, could buy-in these core elements and get itself an off-the-shelf makeover. Retail, leisure and consumption have been the sparkling face of these ambitious visions."
"The credit crunch and the collapse in the buy-to-let mortgage market, however, have dealt a blow to the idea that yuppy flats, dramatic new architecture and an upmarket retail presence alone could reinvigorate an area and its public image."
"But how do you reinvent, capture and maintain distinctiveness? Not simply through eye-catching new buildings."
FULL STORY: Spark of inspiration

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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
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Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie