Lessons on leveraging investments in the public realm
3 key insights for cities seeking an equitable recovery
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, cities across the nation have been grappling with balancing public health, their local economies and how quarantine has diminished public life. As communities learn to new ways to cope with COVID over the long-term, many policymakers are looking for effective recovery strategies that can be implemented right now, and that can build social, environmental and economic resilience. While there are multiple paths toward this kind of recovery, leading policymakers are prioritizing investments in the public realm as a way forward.
The cities of Akron and Detroit already have experience in leveraging public space to come back from a major crisis, as both were hit extremely hard by the Great Recession in 2008. During a session at the Civic Commons Virtual Studio in May, Alexa Bush, Design Director for the City of Detroit, and James Hardy, Deputy Mayor for Integrated Development for the City of Akron, discussed what they’ve learned about leveraging public space for recovery over the last two decades, and how other cities can use their learnings as we continue to manage through the pandemic.
Here are three key insights from their discussion.
Learning #1: Get out of silos and build connections (and allies) across functional teams
When city teams work independently of each other and without strong systems of communication or collaboration, opportunities for efficient integration of effort are lost. For example, many cities have been experimenting with reclaiming pieces of city streets as new public space, as well as programming new kinds of events (free lunches, activities for children, voter registration) in parks. Instead of working together to create experiences and new public space together, however, the transportation and parks departments often work alone in silos, when they could be partnering to ensure these new activities and expanded public spaces are connected and delivered equitably across the city.
The City of Akron overcame this challenge by reimagining a piece of city operations. Akron’s Office for Integrated Development (OID) combined urban planning, engineering, parks and recreation and economic and community development into one department with a focus on supporting a healthy, equitable, beautiful and resilient community. The new internal structure aimed to increase efficiency and improve the outcomes for residents and businesses by involving them in the co-creation of on-the-ground programs and initiatives. Breaking down public-sector silos can help cities move from unconnected, tactical interventions towards shared goals that lead to systemic change.
“After the 2008 recession, the City of Akron decided that the way we were approaching community development and economic development wasn’t working. It was bifurcated and wasn’t delivering on the outcomes we were looking for,” said James Hardy. “After an 18-month process, we emerged with a new department and a commitment to investing in our public spaces. That experience meant that we’ve had an understanding since the start of the pandemic that public spaces would be key to our recovery strategy.”
The Great Streets Akron program is an example of taking a portfolio approach to assets, paired with a team drawn from multiple local government functions. The program aims to improve 12 of the city’s Neighborhood Business Districts by increasing local business development, creating more pedestrian and bike-friendly streets, beautifying the districts, increasing tree canopy, and promoting safer neighborhoods. By working across silos in particular geographies, the program can advance multiple goals in a seamless and coordinated manner. Great Streets Akron has also centered community engagement as a key part of its process to ensure that residents most impacted by changes are a core part of the conversation.
In 2013, the City of Detroit filed for municipal bankruptcy, a steep challenge that also created an opportunity for the City to reimagine its organizational structure and prioritize leveraged investments. The creation of the Strategic Neighborhood Fund was one strategy that has been incorporated into an ongoing effort by the City to improve commercial corridors, create and improve park space, reimagine streetscapes, provide safer walking and biking, and affordable housing and neighborhood stabilization. The Strategic Neighborhood Fund has braided funding from government sources with philanthropic investments to kickstart change on the ground in multiple ways, starting first with the Fitzgerald neighborhood and now expanding to 10 neighborhood areas across the city. These investments are coordinated via a Neighborhood Framework Plan, facilitated by the Planning and Development Department, and co-created with residents, integrating community feedback with cross-department priorities into a shared vision. Partnerships with NGOs allow the City to create local jobs, assist small businesses and provide local residents with access to services and events.
Getting buy-in (both internally and from the community) can be a challenge. Identifying key allies, advocates and supportive neighbors can help build momentum for changes, as can going slower than normal and spending time with community members, moving at the “speed of trust.”
“We’ve established credibility by rebuilding trust in a very low trust environment between residents and the city,” says Alexa Bush. “Some departments have realized that we make their lives easier because we’re building on relationships and legitimate trust.”
Learning #2: Concentrate on catalytic investments
The Strategic Neighborhood Fund in Detroit shows the power of partnerships and collaboration, but also the power of investing with a portfolio approach, as opposed to funding small, disconnected projects, one at a time. This idea of catalytic investment wasn’t always how things were done in Detroit: Bush explained that in the past, money that flowed into Detroit was spent scatter-shot across the city and because of that, these projects didn’t yield the hoped-for progress.
Today, Detroit is targeting investments in housing, public space, transportation, and economic development in neighborhoods, demonstrating real improvement to neighbors. Public investment into streets, parks, greenways, and the public realm has led to increased local business and developer investment that benefits the community and its shared vision for the future.
“I think what the strategy has allowed us to do is to have a frame that thinks about the life of a community more holistically,” says Bush. “…It’s really about building on a sense of community but centering that around public space that might not even have existed before.”
James Hardy thinks that cities create the biggest return by concentrating investments on catalytic projects that will tip the first domino to create a cascade of improvements in neighborhoods over time. This approach is ultimately about prioritizing communities, concentrating investment, and gaining trust by doing what you promised to do. Adds Hardy, “A strategy is as much about what you’re not going to do anymore as it is about what you are going to do. You have to make a choice and you can’t necessarily go into every single neighborhood all at once. You’ve got to think equitably and think about where we’re going to make the most impact with limited resources.”
Learning #3: Focus on measurable outcomes and communicate them effectively
High-quality parks and public spaces add immense value to the cities and neighborhoods they are built-in. However, practitioners and city officials cannot expect that residents or city leaders will want these spaces for their own sake — practitioners need to be able to explain why these spaces are essential for supporting the community by improving wellbeing, developing economic resilience, and advancing sustainability and equity. By clearly communicating outcomes, practitioners build buy-in and develop trust. As Alexa Bush puts it, “I think we need to start telling the story of the public realm in a really different way.”
Akron’s work at Summit Lake — a local glacial lake with a park and recreation facilities on the shore — shows how this can be managed effectively. The park has jump-started a land-use plan which has spurred developer interest in the community and surfaced much-needed conversations around race and the history of disinvestment.
“Public space is a catalyst for economic development. It is a catalyst for racial and social equity…and so we have to start thinking differently about how we go about framing the investment in public space,” says Hardy.
Summit Lake, once a hotspot for Akron’s wealthy residents, became a neighborhood that suffered from disinvestment, redlining, and increasing numbers of abandoned properties. When the Akron Civic Commons, the City of Akron, Summit Metro Parks and the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition began reaching out to residents about their ideas for revamping the lakefront, they heard residents asking for it to be fenced off. Residents believed the lake to be dangerous based on its history of pollution. After years of disinvestment in the neighborhood, they were also hesitant about whether any promises to make improvements would be fulfilled.
Starting with small projects like adding benches, temporary shade structures and testing ideas with the community helped to build trust over time. Now, there are more permanent and long-term projects in the works, including the new Summit Lake Nature Center, which opened July 1, 2021, and a $10M investment in Summit Lake’s North Shore. This phased approach with an emphasis on consistent community dialogue has ensured that the work at Summit Lake is creating long-lasting change in the neighborhood, not just in the facilities that are available but also in how the community comes together.
Parks and public spaces are about more than recreation. They are a necessary part of our infrastructure that contribute to community health, wellbeing, economic development, and equity. By strategically investing in the public realm, cities can find a pathway to equitable economic recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic that will improve their ability to weather future storms.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and local partners.
