Urban Economic Development
Insights and strategies for leaders in urban economic development
ICIC's compilation of best practices and examples of urban business and economic development from cities across the U.S.
Bringing University Research into the Underserved North Minneapolis Community
(avg: 4.00 of 5)
Objective: In this example, the University of Minnesota tries to identify a way to embrace its new institutional mission of engaging the local community. One way to do this, they found, was through the creation of a University Northside Partnership—of which the University’s Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center would serve as a community anchor.
Main Topic: Anchor Institution
Sub Topic: Community Infrastructure Builder
Sub-Sub Topic: Urban Revitalization
Geography: Minneapolis, MN
Major Participants: University of Minnesota, City of Minneapolis, U.S. Federal Government, local residents, community organizations throughout North Minneapolis
Background: The University of Minnesota had for a long time been focused solely on research and academics. There was a disconnect between the research and its applicability to the local community. In 2005, the University started having conversations with Mayor Rybak about how the University could join with the city to tackle some of the issues plaguing North Minneapolis—one of the most underserved areas in the region.
Last Updated on February 21st, 2012
TAGS: university of minnesota | university northside partnership | anchors | urban revitalization | minneapolis | partnerships | community development | resident engagement | shared value
Harnessing an Anchor to Revitalize East Baltimore
(avg: 4.50 of 5)
Objective: The purpose of this case study is to showcase how an anchor institution – Johns Hopkins – worked with local governmental institutions and private foundations to create East Baltimore Development, Inc., which would then go on to revitalize the struggling East Baltimore neighborhood.
Main Topic: Anchor Institution
Sub Topic: Real Estate Development
Sub-Sub Topic: Neighborhood revitalization
Geography: Baltimore, MD
Major Participants: U.S. Government, State of Maryland, City of Baltimore, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Johns Hopkins Institutions, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies
Background: Since the late 1960s, the area to the north of Johns Hopkins’ main campus (referred to as “Middle East”), a once thriving working-class neighborhood, had descended in to poverty, drugs, and crime, with vacancy rates reaching 70%.
Last Updated on February 13th, 2012
TAGS: baltimore | economic development | cities | anchors | shared value | housing | casey foundation | mbes | urban revitalization | real estate
Creating a New Anchor to Serve as Linchpin in Newark Economy
(avg: 4.00 of 5)
Objective: A city long defined by its riots and racial tension, Newark was a city in need of significant urban revitalization. This case study shows how the creation of a brand new anchor institution – the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) – helped to bring residents back downtown and spur new business development and job creation.
Main Topic: Anchor institution
Sub Topic: Community revitalization
Sub-Sub Topic: Cultural programming
Geography: Newark, NJ
Major Participants: State of New Jersey, City of Newark, federal government
Background: After devastating riots in the late 1960s, Newark, NJ struggled to attract residents. As residents left the city, businesses followed. In 1986, then Governor Thomas Kean appointed a committee to address the need for a New Jersey-based performing arts organization. Newark – a city with great transit accessibility and proximity to New York City – was chosen primarily as an attempt to revitalize the struggling city.
Last Updated on February 6th, 2012
TAGS: anchors | performing arts | cultural institution | economic development | community development | newark | cities | mbes | business | urban revitalization
How Local Purchasing Spurred Growth in West Philly
(avg: 5.00 of 5)
Objective: Anchors can help local firms compete by unbundling large contracts or requiring prime contractors to use local subcontractors. They can also encourage local firms to partner with each other or with larger vendors and can provide business advice and mentorship. This case study shows how The University of Pennsylvania did just that: it identified local and diverse vendors and helped prepare them to do business with the University.
Main Topic: Anchor Institution
Sub Topic: Local Procurement
Sub-Sub Topic: Minority Purchasing
Geography: Philadelphia, PA
Major Participants: University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Agency (PA-MBDA), local businesses
Background: In the mid-1990s, the University of Pennsylvania suffered because West Philadelphia was unsafe and economically blighted. Over the decade, President Judith Rodin led the University to improve the long-term social and economic health of West Philadelphia and enhance the university’s competitiveness.
Last Updated on February 4th, 2012
TAGS: business | anchors | shared value | philadelphia | upenn | supplier | procurement | retail
Forgivable Student Loans Helping Employees Advance
(avg: 4.00 of 5)
Objective: This entry showcases how one urban hospital – Brigham and Women’s Hospital – used a forgivable loan program to boost employee retention rates and help employees to move up the career ladder.
Main Topic: Anchor Institution
Sub Topic: Employer
Sub-Sub Topic: Employee Advancement
Geography: Boston
Major Participants: Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH)
Background: Around 2005, Brigham and Women’s Hospital began to evaluate its workforce development initiative plan. It became clear that there were several job openings available above the entry-level position, but these jobs were hard to fill. BWH wanted to find a way to encourage its current employees to enhance their skills through education and training to fill these open roles.
Last Updated on February 4th, 2012
TAGS: jobs | business | shared value | anchors | workforce | training | boston | brigham & women's | employee retention
Building Philadelphia's Modern Industrial Economy
(avg: 4.00 of 5)
Objective: This case study analyzes how the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) worked with a consulting group that included ICIC to identify available industrial space throughout the city of Philadelphia and match that space to industries with the potential to successfully add or retain jobs in the city.
Main Topic: Building a modern industrial economy
Sub Topic: Cluster-based economic development
Sub-Sub Topic: Led by quasi-public agency
Geography: Philadelphia
Major Participants: Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.; AECOM; Interface Studio; ICIC
Background: Philadelphia’s industrial sector, including warehouse, distribution, repair and advanced manufacturing operations, accounts for 20% of the city’s employment—or 104,300 jobs—but was increasingly being encroached upon by other uses, leading to re-zoning pressure on industrial land.
Last Updated on February 2nd, 2012
TAGS: industrial | economic development | manufacturing | land use | philadelphia | quasi-public | jobs | workforce development | cities | cluster
Taking it Beyond the Connective Corridor to Improve the Near West Side
(avg: 4.00 of 5)
Objective: A look at the Near West Side Initiative showcases how Syracuse University went beyond an initial project—the Connective Corridor—and expanded its community revitalization efforts by undertaking a massive rebuilding of a deeply depressed neighborhood with a unique coalition of partners. The Near Westside of Syracuse at the far end of the Connective Corridor, approximately 1.6 miles from the SU campus.
Main Topic: Anchor Institution
Sub Topic: Community Development
Sub-Sub Topic: Neighborhood Revitalization
Geography: Syracuse, NY
Major Participants: More than 750 students and faculty in the University’s geography, architecture, engineering and design programs; over 200 neighborhood residents, the State of New York; The Gifford Foundation, Home Headquarters Inc. , the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Energy and Environmental Systems, Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse.
Background: The City of Syracuse, once an industrial powerhouse, had declined rapidly since the 1950s. The population base decreased by 35% and more than 1,000 homes sat vacant. When Chancellor Nancy Cantor came to the University in 2004, she sought ways that the anchor institution could invest in and become better connected to the city. She spent a year “Seeking the Soul” of Syracuse to assess ways that the University and city could better engage one another. One way: leverage the University’s resources to improve the Near West Side, a Syracuse neighborhood that was, at the time, the 9th poorest census tract in the United States.
Last Updated on February 2nd, 2012
TAGS: nswi | shared value | community development | economic development | anchors | cities | industrial | syracuse | nmtcs
Transforming an Industrial Weakness in to an Asset
(avg: 4.60 of 5)
Objective: The purpose of this case study is to showcase how an organization in New York City rethought the use of an old, industrial railroad track and paved the way for its transformation in to a beautiful park system, which has singlehandedly helped to revitalize the neighborhood.
Main Topic: Industrial
Sub Topic: Land Use Strategies
Sub-Sub Topic: Neighborhood revitalization
Geography: New York City
Major Participants: New York City government, Friends of the High Line
Background: New York City’s 1.5 mile “High Line” is an elevated industrial railroad track that was built in the 1930s and used for freight traffic. The track had not been used since its last run in 1980. Within just a few years, residents were lobbying for the unsightly tracks’ demolition. Other residents were fighting for installation of a new rail service. The battle over what to do with the High Line was compounded in the late-1990s when another group of residents began pushing for the reuse of the rail infrastructure as a system of public parks.
Last Updated on January 30th, 2012
TAGS: parks | economic development | industrial | neighborhood revitalization | cities | nyc | land use | adaptive reuse
Rethinking a Manufacturing Economy
(avg: 4.00 of 5)
Objective: This case study highlights how the private industry, led by Bank of America, invested in and transformed the Charlotte economy from a strong manufacturing base to a national hub for banking and financial services.
Main Topic: Industrial
Sub Topic: Manufacturing to Banking cluster
Sub-Sub Topic: CEO-led economic development strategy
Geography: Charlotte
Major Participants: Local CEOs, Bank of America
Background: In 1980, the manufacturing industry in Charlotte, North Carolina began to rapidly decline. Specifically, between 2000 and 2005, the city lost nearly 30% of its manufacturing base. The loss of the manufacturing sector, comprised of primarily textile and apparel firms, threatened to decimate Charlotte’s economy.
Last Updated on January 20th, 2012
TAGS: cities | manufacturing | banking | charlotte | bank of america | wachovia | small businesses | entrepreneurs | ceos | cluster | economic development
Linking an Anchor to Downtown Development
(avg: 4.00 of 5)
Objective: Syracuse University has made strides in developing the corridor from the university’s campus to downtown Syracuse. Less of a neighborhood-based initiative, this is an urban redevelopment project focused on designing and building a strip of new urban landscape that encourages the University’s population to take advantage of all the city has to offer.
Main Topic: Anchor Institution
Sub Topic: Real estate development
Sub-Sub Topic: Cultural redevelopment
Geography: Syracuse, NY
Major Participants: Syracuse University, National Grid, US Congress, City of Syracuse, U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT), Chamber of Commerce
Background: Syracuse University has been working to influence real estate development in its neighborhood to build a better link between its campus and downtown Syracuse. The campus and downtown are home to five of the ten largest employers in Central New York and more than 47,000 people work in the corridor, but travelling between the two areas proves difficult.
Last Updated on January 20th, 2012
TAGS: syracuse university | syracuse | shared value | real estate development | urban design | cities | downtown | anchors
Hiring Ex-Offenders as Part of Workforce Philosophy
(avg: 3.67 of 5)
Objective: The purpose of this case study is to showcase how an anchor institution – Johns Hopkins – has found success in training ex-offenders and then finding them employment within the Johns Hopkins Health System.
Main Topic: Anchor Institution
Sub Topic: Employer
Sub-Sub Topic: Workforce Development
Geography: Baltimore, MD
Major Participants: Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS), U.S. Department of Justice, assorted local nonprofits who served as partners in the program
Background: Each year, there are as many ex-offenders released from Maryland’s prisons as are employed at the Johns Hopkins medical complex in East Baltimore. JHHS sought to find ways to reintegrate these people back in to society through meaningful employment with the institution—thus reducing rates of recidivism.
Last Updated on January 20th, 2012
TAGS: johns hopkins | employer | workforce development | shared value | baltimore | anchors
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Content Index
workforce development workforce urban revitalization urban design upenn syracuse shared value retail real estate partnerships nyc newark manufacturing land use jobs industrial housing economic development community development cluster cities business boston baltimore anchors-
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