{"id":769166,"date":"2025-12-02T06:14:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=769166"},"modified":"2025-12-03T11:32:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:32:57","slug":"mapping-revitalization-options-city-center-renewal","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-revitalization-options-city-center-renewal","title":{"rendered":"Main Street Revival: Planners Turn to Interactive Maps to Renew City Centers"},"author":671,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[361,493240,493239,488782,484772],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[491252],"esri_blog_department":[492402],"class_list":["post-769166","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-esri-insider","tag-blight","tag-city-center","tag-downtown-revitalization","tag-mixed-use","tag-urban-renewal","esri-blog-category-flourishing-cities","esri_blog_department-urban-planning"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"In more US cities, downtown revitalization arrives first on 2D and 3D digital maps and models that help communicate a vision of the future. ","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Many urban planners say a new era of downtown revitalizations are imminent to keep US cities healthy and sustainable.\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>City planners use interactive maps to understand current land uses and see future possibilities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Many cities envision downtown areas with more compact development, testing design concepts with digital twins.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Cities rely on GIS maps to improve planning, permitting, and public-private collaboration.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Main Street once defined the American city. Tight rows of busy storefronts, bustling civic centers, and gathering spaces provided jobs, tax revenue, and community character. Today\u2019s downtowns tell a different story: empty buildings, declining tax revenue, and poor land management.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But many city planners aren\u2019t accepting decline. They\u2019re using geographic information systems (GIS) technology to model every building, street, and parcel in 3D\u2014then testing scenarios before committing resources. This precision lets them identify where investment will work, what needs to be preserved, and how new development fits with existing character. The result: they\u2019re boosting the local economy, building community, and preserving cultural identity. These new urban business models have other benefits: curbing suburban sprawl, improving air quality, and protecting farmland and other green space in and around our cities.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across the nation, this approach is turning faded downtowns into standout destinations. Once transformed, a city's downtown can generate more tax revenue than any other neighborhood in the municipality. That boost to the treasury helps cities pay the cost of delivering services residents expect in every part of town, including police, fire, and water. And more communities are taking notice, shaping their own investment strategies by borrowing ideas from the most promising locations.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[769168,769169,769173]},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>From Sprawling Suburbs to Walkable Downtowns<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Millions of acres of rural US land have been cleared for housing subdivisions, strip malls, and highways, often encroaching on wetlands and other wildlife habitats.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such planning decisions have rarely paid off, according to land value consultant Joe Minicozzi, founder of Urban3. Suburban neighborhoods, he said, too often fail to generate enough tax revenue to cover the cost of extending city services to those communities.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minicozzi helps city leaders visualize this imbalance. He makes GIS maps that compare property and sales tax revenue generated per acre in downtown districts versus suburban zones\u2014and the difference is dramatic. Dense, mixed-use downtowns attract more people, businesses, and investment, driving up land values and economic activity.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reducing sprawl by revitalizing downtowns leads to other advantages for cities: cleaner air, preservation of vital farmland and forests, and less environmental damage. It\u2019s also a chance to address center city parking lots. Many planners say parking lots are a low-value land use and interrupt the pedestrian experience.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPlaces like Buffalo, Akron, Houston, and Phoenix tore down half their buildings to make room for parking,\u201d said Robert Steuteville of the Congress for the New Urbanism. \u201cUnfortunately, they were destroying what attracts people to a downtown\u2014other people, other buildings, other land uses.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, cities are removing single-family zoning, easing parking minimums, and encouraging greater density near transit.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMore people will live in walkable places if they\u2019re given the opportunity to and if we build enough of it so the prices come down,\u201d Steuteville said.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These ideas aren\u2019t just theoretical\u2014they\u2019re shaping real decisions in cities across the country.<\/p>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Three Cities, Three Transformations, One Technology<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To maximize every parcel of city land, planners need precise landscape data and detailed knowledge of its features. This requires volumes of hyperlocal location data. Interactive digital maps and 3D models\u2014powered by GIS technology\u2014organize the data in layers and present it in the context of its location.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This virtual environment provides a view for imagining what is possible. With GIS maps and models, collaborators can test ideas, forecast outcomes, build consensus, smooth out obstacles, and address risks before a single foundation is built.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through these processes, communities become more innovative. For instance, housing for growing populations and a need for diverse tax revenue streams are common challenges across US communities\u2014issues now addressed virtually first using GIS.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This collaborative approach is helping communities celebrate their history and traditions. The approach helps communities protect regional identity while planning for growth.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>3D Models Help a Texas City Redefine Community Life<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dickinson, Texas, is one of many cities <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/dickinson-smart-planning-visualization\">revitalizing its downtown<\/a> in part to meet growing demand for housing. The city, 30 miles south of Houston, covers just 10 square miles and is surrounded by other cities, leaving no room to expand outward. So, Dickinson is building up.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planners built the city\u2019s first digital twin\u2014a virtual 3D GIS model of their plan for transforming 12 blocks. The new compact, mixed-use community will hold 200<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span>400 apartments that have retail space on the first floor, along with some semidetached townhomes.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[719312,719242,719252]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Designed for walkability and long-term resilience, the neighborhood will have one parking space per 2,000 square feet of built space. With more pedestrian and cycling paths, planners expect cars to become less of a necessity.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe can\u2019t have the suburban sprawl growth,\u201d said Theo Melancon, Dickinson\u2019s city manager. \u201cBut we can have something with much more impact per square foot on the property that we do have.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planners anticipated skepticism from developers and city council. But the digital twin allows city leaders to model design concepts; forecast tax revenue; and show all stakeholders what a denser, more walkable community would look like.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potential investors in Texas \u201chave no experience with this kind of development,\u201d Melancon said. \u201cBut when you can show a broader picture of what downtown could be, what we\u2019re committed to doing over several city blocks, they realize every parcel is part of a bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Popular South Carolina Town Uses Maps to Boost Economic Vitality<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Greenville, South Carolina, is recognized for modernizing its downtown while holding onto its local color. As its stature grows, the city is welcoming more newcomers and employers and seeing its job market grow. Ninety-seven percent of class A office space downtown is leased, and urban planners travel from across the South to visit, with hopes of finding ideas to borrow.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A breathtaking riverfront park with a waterfall and a sky bridge for taking in the scenes are centerpieces of downtown redevelopment and a large part of what now makes the city recognizable. The streets are lined with stately hotels, as well as shops and restaurants where visitors can experience the city\u2019s Southern charm.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, Greenville\u2019s leaders say it\u2019s time to seek balance. As the inventory of undeveloped downtown land shrinks, land and housing prices are rising. That could limit future redevelopment and affordability.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","youtube_video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/myrtVqMYjaM?si=BZ3cq7t83JCOcS_y"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planners believe it will take just as much focus\u2014with GIS essential for gathering location-specific business intelligence\u2014to manage future development in a way that continues to make it a top place to live, work, and enjoy diversions. City officials hope to preserve as much as 35 percent of the city\u2019s vacant land as open space and 10 percent for new affordable housing units.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe built a matrix, and we used a lot of our GIS software and mapping to identify all the parcels that are undeveloped and then look at their potential for development,\u201d said Edward Kinney, manager of the city\u2019s Preservation and Urban Design Division. \u201cIf a parcel that we haven\u2019t been thinking of suddenly becomes available, we run it through that matrix in order to determine whether or not it would be valuable for us to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3><strong>A Digital Twin Sparks Cultural Renewal for a Historic Utah City<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Located on the western edge of Salt Lake County, Magna, Utah, was once a copper boomtown with stately brick buildings and Victorian homes. Over time, its core faded\u2014damaged by a 2020 earthquake and decades of car-centric development.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, planners are using GIS to preserve the town\u2019s cultural identity while shaping a more walkable, community-centered future. Using drone imagery inside GIS, they created a digital twin of the downtown area, including Copper Park and the local library. The immersive 3D model sparks community conversations about zoning and design.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cRather than speaking indirectly about concepts, such as maximum building heights, we could show them,\u201d said Marie Schleicher, GIS analyst at the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[735962,736082,735942]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The digital twin also supported Magna\u2019s successful bid to add its downtown to the National Register of Historic Places, unlocking tax incentives and rehabilitation funds. Planners used GIS to model mixed-use development\u2014retail on the ground floor, apartments above\u2014that would complement the area\u2019s historic feel while addressing Utah\u2019s housing gap. They evaluated retail space, housing needs, and public amenities to ensure that the growth aligned with community values.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result is a revitalization strategy rooted in stewardship\u2014preserving Magna\u2019s history and culture while creating a walkable downtown designed to serve residents into the future.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Future of US Cities<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People still are drawn to their Main Street. But modern life imposes new realities, including population growth that requires tighter, denser development and better protection of open space. This means building world-class cities of the future requires new strategies for land use in the commercial core.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cities are embracing the challenge. They are updating zoning regulations, embracing mixed-use development, and designing for walkability. And many communities are seeing their downtowns once again becoming the lively, economically vibrant destinations that keep people coming back. Only now, those areas are also more becoming resilient and future ready.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/urban-community-planning\/overview\">planners use GIS to evaluate zoning, land use, and development scenarios<\/a>.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Getting Started: 10 Principles for Downtown Revitalization<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Identify your city\u2019s personality.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Forge partnerships with the private development sector, nonprofits, and local philanthropic groups.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Develop long- and short-range plans, with input and collaboration from the community.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Codify your plan to ensure that future development will conform or be prepared to fund the difference between the plan and the product.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Preserve green and blue spaces\u2014riverfronts and environmentally sensitive areas\u2014and develop around them.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Preserve historic buildings and save and convert older buildings for reuse. In time, these add to the character, authenticity, and atmosphere of your downtown.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Develop transit for every user type, including buses, bikes, and trucks, understanding that pedestrians are primary users. Make walkable spaces safe, interesting, and comfortable.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Build a mix of housing types\u00a0and retail types\u00a0to attract and serve a range of ages and income levels. A downtown needs to be for every stage of life.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Build a mix of safe and accessible public spaces\u2014large and small, some designed for physical activities such as tennis or soccer, and others for relaxation and observing nature.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Make downtown festive, with events within the public spaces.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>Source: Edward Kinney, City of Greenville, South Carolina<\/em><\/p>","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Planners Map Revitalization Options to Renew City Centers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In more US cities, downtown revitalization arrives first on 2D and 3D digital maps and models that help communicate a vision of the future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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