Creating Economic Value Through the Civic Commons
5 emerging practices for value creation through public space
At Reimagining the Civic Commons, we believe a strong civic commons can create new economic value for neighborhoods and cities, delivering increased and more equitably shared prosperity. There are many ways investments in parks, libraries, trails and community centers can deliver new value for communities, including increasing foot traffic that boosts local retail stores, attracting new businesses and organizations to formerly vacant space, supporting social capital development, increasing the perception of safety in neighborhoods and even hiring local residents.
Here are a handful of examples from five cities working to do just that.
Detroit is creating a connected public realm that supports thriving local businesses
Detroit’s civic commons efforts focuses on cultivating and improving community assets — the neighborhood streets, pathways, parks, gardens, and nearby commercial main street — that make up the fabric of daily life and knit together the community. For a long time, many of these assets were nearly abandoned, with vacant homes and boarded-up businesses the norm in neighborhoods like Fitzgerald, the site of Detroit’s civic commons work in the northwest part of the city.
More than 20 vacant residential lots were transformed last year into Ella Fitzgerald Park, while McNichols Avenue, a commercial corridor adjacent to the Fitzgerald neighborhood, is undergoing its own transformation from vacant to vibrant. Previously empty storefronts are being remodeled with new businesses opening regularly. The first was the beloved Detroit Sip, a locally-owned coffee shop that in 2017 was a lone storefront on a vacant block. Now, right next door sits Neighborhood HomeBase, a storefront community hub that hosts gatherings, neighborhood exhibits and acts as a collaborative work space for the staff of nonprofits Live6 and the Detroit Community Design Collaboration as well as planning staff from the City of Detroit. As the park flourishes and businesses, nonprofits and city staff have taken up residence on McNichols, additional services and amenities are being drawn in that benefit local residents: Detroit Parent Collective, a co-working space that also offers childcare services, and T-Mo’s BBQ Pit, are now located just a few blocks away. Even some of the side streets are seeing new vibrancy, like the non-profit Brilliant Detroit, which opened a community and early learning center in a recently-renovated 2,000-square-foot home on nearby Prairie Street.
The future looks even brighter as foot traffic increases each month. Ernie Smith, part owner and developer of Detroit Sip, is developing another building just block up the street from the coffee shop. This 4,000-square-foot space will be a neighborhood restaurant and bar called “Sips on 6,” and is slated to open later this year.
Memphis is supporting local retail…right on site
One lesson we’ve learned is that when you create a place to linger, people want convenient food and beverages…and they want things to do, even kayaks!
The 4th Cup is a locally-owned, outdoor coffee stand located in Memphis’ newly reimagined River Garden park along the Mississippi River. Created from a retrofitted shipping container, the 4th Cup provides coffee and tea from local small-batch roaster Dr. Bean’s, healthy snacks and even rents kayaks for park visitors who want to explore the harbor nearby. Regular hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but 4th Cup stays open later for special events like Tuesday evening Yoga in the Park. The 4th Cup is another amenity that draws downtowners to River Garden, who stop by during their lunch breaks, gather for team meetings during business hours or bring work to study in the park. Meanwhile, families stop to grab MEMpop popsicles for the kids — part of a virtuous circle of support for yet another small local business.
Yet 4th Cup employees don’t just rent kayaks and sell coffee — they also double as quasi-park rangers on slower days, allowing River Parks Rangers to be deployed to other parks. You’ll often see 4th Cup employees perched on a stool outside the container, greeting visitors and talking visitors through the field guide and bird book, that profile the species that live in the park. The Partnership supports this local business by giving them first right of refusal on catering gigs in River Garden. And the River Garden gets a better visitor experience through an engaged 4th Cup staff, that provides a welcome, answers questions and makes the park more personal and enjoyable.
Chicago is drawing investment into disinvested neighborhoods
Chicago’s Rebuild Foundation, under the leadership of Theaster Gates, is revitalizing and repurposing the shuttered St. Laurence School into an arts and business incubator located in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.
Shuttered in 2002, the St. Laurence School sat vacant for over a decade before becoming one of Rebuild Foundation’s many efforts to transform urban communities through neighborhood revitalization and repurposing forgotten civic assets into vibrant cultural amenities designed for the community.
The 40,000-square-foot school is being transformed to include community spaces for art programming, studios for art skills training and needed artist workspaces. When finished, the revitalized St. Laurence School will accommodate varying kinds of artistic practices and will include a “guild build school” offering training and apprenticeships in painting, drawing, printmaking, milling, wood craftsmanship and product modeling for both youth and adults.
The ongoing revitalization of the former elementary school into a thriving arts and entrepreneurship incubator is drawing increased attention to the potential of the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. Just this last spring, Rebuild Foundation was awarded a $1.6 million Neighborhood Opportunity Fund grant, a City of Chicago program that leverages development in and around the Chicago Loop to generate funds that catalyze investment in underserved neighborhoods. Alongside the investment in the St. Laurence School project, the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund is also providing funding to nearby small businesses, including Stony Island Designs (a start-up paint and decorating products retailer), Karry Young Development, Party Wheelz (an event space focused on kids’ birthdays), and the Woodshop Art Gallery.
After decades of disinvestment, Greater Grand Crossing is beginning to see renewed attention and investment in strengthening the neighborhood fabric.
Akron is providing skills training for local youth
Akron Civic Commons is co-creating public spaces across three neighborhoods, including one called Summit Lake. In conjunction with this work, Summit Lake Build Corps, run by neighborhood resident Stephanie “Leo” Leonardi, empowers local young people in Summit Lake by providing construction and business skills training. Projects have included everything from building a new reception desk for the Summit Lake Community Center, to completely stripping and rebuilding a home that will serve as a community hub. Build Corps members receive stipends for participating in the program, often the first opportunity for neighborhood youth to earn money for their work, and what’s more, encourages them to operate as a contracting team, able to sell their services to building and construction projects throughout the Akron area.
Summit Lake Build Corps training includes providing building trade skills, and business and financial skills like budgeting, time management, interpersonal communication, and the importance of giving back to community. Build Corps prepares young people in the community for jobs in construction, yet opens their eyes to opportunities they might not have previously considered — including leadership roles that advance public space and civic life.
Philadelphia is creating connections through paid internships
Bartram’s Garden is a 45-acre free public park located on the Schuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia, an area once known as Lenapehoking, the ancestral lands of the indigenous Lenape. It welcomes more than 95,000 visitors each year for free activities, in ways that invite everyone to build relationships with nature and strengthen their community. This includes the opportunity to grow fresh food, engage in outdoor recreation like biking and boating, take in outdoor art and performances, cook traditional recipes, and enjoy hands-on environmental education.
In response to requests for more paid opportunities for high school students, Bartram’s Garden employs roughly 40 local students every year as paid interns, with students applying through a competitive, peer-led process for work at either the Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden or the Community Boathouse. Growing out of programs that began at the farm in 2012, the paid youth development program now employees more interns on-site than adult staff.
At their respective sites, interns study everything from riverfront safety to urban farming, from African Diaspora cooking to environmental justice, while also focusing on broader life skills like public speaking, working as part of a team, giving and receiving feedback, and setting goals. Students are eligible to apply for the award-winning program as early as their first year of high school; many return during each of their four years, advancing to higher levels of leadership and earning increasingly higher pay.
But I did not learn only of food while working for the Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. I learned how to be responsible. How to be professional. I learned how to succeed while public speaking. I learned work ethic. And most of all I learned to be bold . . . that I could flourish like the large and beautiful sunflowers.” — Tykia Jerry, Class of 2018
In contrast to the local high school’s dismal 58.99 percent four-year graduation rate, Bartram Garden’s “Class of 2018” interns boasted a 100 percent graduation rate, with all the students bound for further education or vocations, including two who received full scholarships to four-year colleges. Since 2017, select alumni have even returned to the program as fellows, serving as paid program leaders during the busy summer season and sharing their own experiences with college and careers. Census data reveals that only 22.5 percent of the local neighbors have bachelor’s degrees, making these peer connections invaluable for high school students who often don’t see themselves and their neighborhood reflected at the city’s many colleges and universities.
As investments in a robust civic commons deliver new economic value for cities, there are many strategies for ensuring local businesses, neighborhoods and residents benefit. Next week, we’ll explore how to capture increases in real estate value that results from public space investments through a brief case study of Portland, Oregon and how it is using Tax Increment Financing to improve the public realm and support mixed income neighborhoods.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration between The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and local partners.
