New economies need old places:

practical business and money

reasons why Main Streets make

cities better

Della G. Rucker, AICP CEcDWise Economy Workshop

For RevitalizeWA

May 6, 2015

Your Presenter

• All those letters?

• Economic Revitalization/Public Engagement

• My Thing: Communities that work long term–

▫ Strong economy

▫ Resilient economy

▫ Invested people

www.wiseeonomy.com

Barrygott.com

• French revolution picture with slash through it

• Ocean waves

Four drivers of the Local Economy Revolution

•Multiplication of Options

•Quest for Uniqueness

•Interdependence Dependence

•People Power

• Spoiler Alert: Main Streets support all of these.

Multiplication of Options

Multiplication of Options

Multiplication of Options

What do downtowns have?

• Different building types

• Different types/sizes of spaces

• Different appearances

• More choices…

Multiplication of Options!

Quest for Uniqueness

Quest for Uniqueness

Value = measure of importance/relevance/need

Uniqueness = relevance to a niche

Service to a niche = importance/relevance/need to niche

Uniqueness = economic value to niche

However,

Uniqueness =/= value to non-niche. Sorry.

And downtowns?

• Unique

• Niche!

• Value to Niche!

• (Not Value to non-niche).

• (sorry.)

Interdependence Dependence?

Interdependence Dependence?

Interdependence Dependence.

Interdependence

OK. Downtowns?

• Visual interdependency

• + Physical proximity (“collisions”)

• +Small business owner friendly

• = Interdependence Petrie dishes!

People Power

People Power

People Power?

Let me guess. Downtowns…

• People Power depends on something people emotionally connect to.

• For lots of businesses trying to use People Power, that’s hard to do.

• Downtowns have things that people emotionally connect to. In spades!

Great. Then why….

And why…

And Why…

Historic Downtowns have some big advantages in the emerging economy.

What can we do to capitalize on that?

How we try to fix business districts

(and often fail)• “We just need a streetscape!”

How we try to fix business

districts(and often fail)• “We gotta get rid of those vacant buildings!”

How we try to fix business districts

(and often fail)• Cars, cars, cars

What did we say the emerging

economy wants back in the beginning?

•Multiple Options

•Power of Uniqueness

•Interdependence Awareness

•People Power

Multiple Options

• Bigger is not always better

• Small has advantages

• Tiny can be even better▫ Capacity

▫ Collisionable-ness

• Are you offering start up or experimentation-sized spaces?

Power of Uniqueness

• Conventional thinking: non-cookie cutter =hard.

▫ Business and real estate

▫ TMTR (Too Much Thought Required!)

▫ So not for everyone.

• But market for “Conventional” is glutted

▫ Retail, service, real estate

▫ Race to the Bottom

• How is your business gonna stand out?

Interdependence

• How much capacity do you have?

• How much do you wish you had?

• How alone are you?

• How alone do you want to be?

Interdependence

People Power

• People want to be where other people are

▫ More than ever before?

• People attract other people

• People make people feel safer

• People increasingly do weird things to be where other people are going to be.

• People care about places that have people.

• Given that, how do we attract people?

People Power!

In Summary…

Your Downtowns are the Nursery of the

New Economy.• New Needs =/= Old Needs

• New Things Need Old Places

▫ Identity

▫ Access

▫ Value

• New business growth is crucial to economic success

▫ Increasingly, you can’t buy it

▫ Increasingly, you have to grow it.

▫ More of it stays if you grow your own.

Do realize…

• Not everyone belongs in a nursery

▫ Nursery is a Niche in the larger Local Economy.

• Babies often need some help

▫ Babies can be a pain.

▫ But (unless we find a way to live forever)…

We all need babies.

Let’s talk

www.wiseeonomy.com

Thank you!

For more information:

www.wiseeconomy.com

www.localeconomyrevolutionbook.com

Twitter: @dellarucker

Also on LinkedIn, Facebook, SoundCloud, YouTube, etc.

www.wiseeonomy.com