This research was conducted to seek answers to these questions: 1. To what extent could historic properties in the city represent a place brand image of that city in the early twenty-first century? 2. Could historic preservation be an effective tool for place branding? Contemporary cities in the world fiercely compete with others nowadays, so cities have wanted to distinguish themselves from others. This phenomenon has encouraged cities to use a conventional commercial marketing strategy, branding. When branding is used to promote a place, we call it place branding. If a fundamental aim of place branding is to distinguish one city from another, the notion of place branding would be closely related to the discussion on contemporary historic preservation's role in urban development. The common target market of twenty-first-century cities is talent, who, in turn, will be a magnet for global industry. As the talent tends to seek diverse urban life, cities have actively made efforts to revitalize and market their downtowns. In this regard, historic preservation can help cities retain their unique character and diversity of urban fabric in downtown areas. Consequently, historic preservation can provide cities a foundation upon which they can develop their unique place brands that attract talent. At the same time, historic properties can be used as a marketing resource for place branding. In addition to the theoretical discussion on the potential for historic preservation as a place branding tool, this thesis incorporates an empirical study on relocation guides officially published by Texas cities, including Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. This study aims to investigate where, how, and to what extent historic properties are represented in the official marketing publications. / text

The midtown aesthetic and culture, seen through the specific case of the group Musical Elements, reveals that the schism between uptown and downtown composers in New York in the 1970s is a critical construct that is an oversimplification of an infinitely more complex, dynamic and nuanced musical atmosphere. Furthermore, the hyper fixation on the uptown/downtown dichotomy as perpetuated by subsequent analysts has obscured the actual intersectional environment between uptown and downtown, in particular, the midtown aesthetic and culture, which is more accurately depicted as a transitional arena of cooperation and exchange operating successfully in between the perceptions of the polarized dichotomy. This thesis attempts to place Musical Elements as central to the development and promotion of a midtown culture, aesthetic, and sensibility. This is not to say that this ensemble represents the only ensemble or group of composers promoting a midtown culture. But a historiographical exploration of the so-called uptown/downtown schism, along with interviews with those affiliated with Musical Elements and analyses of works associated with the group, reveals how a midtown culture and philosophy helped bridge the gap between uptown and downtown.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Hyung Jin Kim / This study seeks to investigate the impact of inner-city highways on walkability in urban downtowns in the United States, using Greater Downtown Kansas City as a case study. This study used the web-based online survey method to assess if inner-city highways impede the flow of pedestrians among residents and visitor of the Greater Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The results showed that there were differences in the perception of the pedestrian environment between residents and visitors of the downtown area. Downtown residents generally had a more favorable view of the pedestrian environment than visitors of Greater Downtown. Additionally, the inner-city highways did not appear to be barriers to pedestrian mobility, which differs from the hypothesis of this study. However, although the pedestrian overpasses over the highways did have an impact on pedestrians’ perceptions and walking behaviors, newer overpasses with wider sidewalks mitigated barrier effects of highways more than older overpasses with narrow sidewalks. The study also found that walking was the most common travel mode for all trips in Greater Downtown Kansas City, despite potential barriers.

This thesis redefines the typology of Third Places and the design considerations that influence envisioning downtown revitalization of mid-size cities that are embracing a town-gown partnership. The exercise ultimately explores and addresses the importance of integrating civic growth with community cultivation to instigate the development of a new kind of place. Responding to the endangerment of place in the twenty first century city, the proposal is inspired by the historical “common place” typology and urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s concept of the “Third Place”. By linking the origin of rhetoric with the neutral space between work and home, Third Places revive the social realm whereby people can informally gather, interact and celebrate the human condition amidst the ever changing urban and cultural fabric. Unlike established suburban cities, Third Places still exist in many declining mid-size cities. As the University of Waterloo’s presence in the downtown continues to expand in the City of Cambridge, there is a critical need for Third Places to continue moderating healthy socioeconomic and cultural development. The thesis presents three distinctive design proposals for the existing Fraser Block site located in Cambridge Ontario’s City Centre to a key informant focus group. Each development proposition offers a different contemporary design approach to the site while maintaining the basic design goal of creating a mixed use building that will become a future social incubator and vibrant neighbourhood gathering place. Primarily this thesis attempts to provide a discourse on the potential impact of Third Places within the context of revitalizing a mid-size city downtown as it embraces the presence of a satellite university campus. A heuristic is proposed to instigate the cultural capacity of the community to envision their downtown. By interpreting the results gathered from the key informants, basic design considerations and recommendations can be offered to communicate how the downtown can be revitalized. The recommendations can also be used to help property owners, developers, the city, and the architect understand the working goals of Cambridge’s growing downtown culture.

This study and research was conducted to understand the myriad tools utilized as part of downtown revitalization plans, strategies or efforts in Ontario’s mid-sized cities, what impacts municipalities are seeking in their downtown revitalization plans, strategies or efforts, and the implications for planning theory and practice. This study and research involved a mixed methods research strategy – known as triangulation- which included a literature review, a web-survey directed to municipal staff within each of Ontario’s mid-sized cities, and a case study of London Ontario’s downtown revitalization strategy. The findings of this study and research indicate that traditional revitalization tools are still favoured in Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Further, marketing and quality of life tools are highly used by municipalities in downtown revitalization. Municipalities appear to be tailoring their downtown revitalization programs or efforts to stimulate business, and are increasingly taking an entrepreneurial, business-like approach to revitalization city centres. Transportation featured prominently in downtown revitalization efforts within Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Parking in particular, was an element that was planned for as part of downtown revitalization. Finally, stimulating the local downtown housing market was of primary importance to Ontario’s mid-sized cities. The literature consistently notes the extreme importance of housing as a downtown revitalization strategy over time. It appears that Ontario’s mid-sized cities prescribe to the theory that downtowns cannot truly function and become centres with strong retail markets, and activity hubs with synergistic uses within proximity without housing. Further, Ontario’s mid-sized cities appear to be increasingly seeking to stimulate the private sector in constructing housing. “Increase Residential Population” and “Increase General Activity” are the most prevalent objectives of downtown revitalization in Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Given that the top-three objectives of the web-survey were increasing population within the downtown, increasing general activity within the downtown, and increasing employment within the downtown, a combination of objectives which are multi-dimensional, it appears that mid-sized municipalities are seeking multi-dimensional downtowns, with particular attention paid to increasing population levels. The web-survey and case study did not concretely confirm or deny the literature with regard to monitoring and evaluation. However, the web-survey and case study do suggest that plan evaluation is not a particularly robust element of downtown revitalization efforts in Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Recommendations based on the findings of this research are provided for municipalities, planning practitioners and academics. This research contributes to the limited but expanding literature on mid-sized cities, downtown revitalization of mid-sized cities, as well as monitoring and evaluation techniques and concepts for mid-sized cities to consider. Recommendations for further research are also provided.

This thesis redefines the typology of Third Places and the design considerations that influence envisioning downtown revitalization of mid-size cities that are embracing a town-gown partnership. The exercise ultimately explores and addresses the importance of integrating civic growth with community cultivation to instigate the development of a new kind of place. Responding to the endangerment of place in the twenty first century city, the proposal is inspired by the historical “common place” typology and urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s concept of the “Third Place”. By linking the origin of rhetoric with the neutral space between work and home, Third Places revive the social realm whereby people can informally gather, interact and celebrate the human condition amidst the ever changing urban and cultural fabric. Unlike established suburban cities, Third Places still exist in many declining mid-size cities. As the University of Waterloo’s presence in the downtown continues to expand in the City of Cambridge, there is a critical need for Third Places to continue moderating healthy socioeconomic and cultural development. The thesis presents three distinctive design proposals for the existing Fraser Block site located in Cambridge Ontario’s City Centre to a key informant focus group. Each development proposition offers a different contemporary design approach to the site while maintaining the basic design goal of creating a mixed use building that will become a future social incubator and vibrant neighbourhood gathering place. Primarily this thesis attempts to provide a discourse on the potential impact of Third Places within the context of revitalizing a mid-size city downtown as it embraces the presence of a satellite university campus. A heuristic is proposed to instigate the cultural capacity of the community to envision their downtown. By interpreting the results gathered from the key informants, basic design considerations and recommendations can be offered to communicate how the downtown can be revitalized. The recommendations can also be used to help property owners, developers, the city, and the architect understand the working goals of Cambridge’s growing downtown culture.

This study and research was conducted to understand the myriad tools utilized as part of downtown revitalization plans, strategies or efforts in Ontario’s mid-sized cities, what impacts municipalities are seeking in their downtown revitalization plans, strategies or efforts, and the implications for planning theory and practice. This study and research involved a mixed methods research strategy – known as triangulation- which included a literature review, a web-survey directed to municipal staff within each of Ontario’s mid-sized cities, and a case study of London Ontario’s downtown revitalization strategy. The findings of this study and research indicate that traditional revitalization tools are still favoured in Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Further, marketing and quality of life tools are highly used by municipalities in downtown revitalization. Municipalities appear to be tailoring their downtown revitalization programs or efforts to stimulate business, and are increasingly taking an entrepreneurial, business-like approach to revitalization city centres. Transportation featured prominently in downtown revitalization efforts within Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Parking in particular, was an element that was planned for as part of downtown revitalization. Finally, stimulating the local downtown housing market was of primary importance to Ontario’s mid-sized cities. The literature consistently notes the extreme importance of housing as a downtown revitalization strategy over time. It appears that Ontario’s mid-sized cities prescribe to the theory that downtowns cannot truly function and become centres with strong retail markets, and activity hubs with synergistic uses within proximity without housing. Further, Ontario’s mid-sized cities appear to be increasingly seeking to stimulate the private sector in constructing housing. “Increase Residential Population” and “Increase General Activity” are the most prevalent objectives of downtown revitalization in Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Given that the top-three objectives of the web-survey were increasing population within the downtown, increasing general activity within the downtown, and increasing employment within the downtown, a combination of objectives which are multi-dimensional, it appears that mid-sized municipalities are seeking multi-dimensional downtowns, with particular attention paid to increasing population levels. The web-survey and case study did not concretely confirm or deny the literature with regard to monitoring and evaluation. However, the web-survey and case study do suggest that plan evaluation is not a particularly robust element of downtown revitalization efforts in Ontario’s mid-sized cities. Recommendations based on the findings of this research are provided for municipalities, planning practitioners and academics. This research contributes to the limited but expanding literature on mid-sized cities, downtown revitalization of mid-sized cities, as well as monitoring and evaluation techniques and concepts for mid-sized cities to consider. Recommendations for further research are also provided.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / John W. Keller / In the mid-20th century a migration took place taking residents of American downtowns to the newly-developed, master-planned suburbs. In the wake were abandoned urban cores that evolved into poorly-perceived conditions. One of the many responses to correct these deteriorating central districts was the establishment of Business Improvement Districts (BID), a public-private partnership that develops complementary services to what a city already provides and is paid for by assessments collected from property and business owners in a defined area. With more than 1,000 BIDs in existence in the United States as of 2010 (Becker, Grossman, Dos Santos, 2011), the concept has caught on as a tool utilized to bring downtowns back to life. However, despite the popularity of BIDs and their nearly 50-year existence as a planning tool, the question of how successful they are in improving the conditions of safety, cleanliness, and business growth in the districts over time needs continued analysis. This study gauges the impact of BIDs through a case study of Fresno, California and its BID, the Downtown Fresno Partnership. To measure how the Downtown Fresno Partnership has been successful or unsuccessful, interviews with Downtown Fresno stakeholders were conducted to measure the BID’s ability to change perceptions and advocate for the property owners in its boundary. Also, to measure further impacts, crime, property values and retail data was investigated. A perceived injection of new energy seems to exist in Downtown Fresno, as evidenced by the activity taking place and the change in perception of the area since the Downtown Fresno Partnership was formed in 2011. The BID has played a central role in instituting physical change to the space while it has been a strong advocate for its property owners. In its first five years of existence, the Downtown Fresno Partnership has proven to be necessary, but it is not sufficient on its own. From a planning standpoint, it is important to recognize that in order to revitalize, a community must first organize. In the case of Fresno, the BID provided an opportunity to collect formerly competing interests and put itself at the center of an underperforming downtown to alter the course towards a more vibrant and thriving area. It has established positive momentum down this path, and it is expected to be a strong voice for downtown in the future as others join in on the fully-experienced revitalized state of Downtown Fresno.