Abstract:
Many cities in the U.S. have faced difficult times in the past few decades. With manufacturing industries leaving major cities they once supported, many communities in and around the rust belt have lost much of what drove their economies. Cities such as Chicago or Indianapolis remained upper tier cities due to a diverse economy that lessened the impact of industry loss. Smaller third-tier cities were not so lucky. Because their economies were based on a handful of manufacturers in the same economic sector, the loss of this business hurt them proportionally worse.
As our culture has grown into a global market the economic strength of cities has become even more crucial. In order to survive and grow, communities must be able to bring in revenue and sustain it within their economies for as long as possible. Without businesses and industries to generate this reinvested revenue, the economy will slowly bleed all of its assets dry.
This project investigates how new knowledge and creativity-based industries can be attracted to cities through tangible Quality of Life improvements. Research by White and Cohen shows that knowledge and creativity-based industries tend to locate in cities that have high concentrations of physical Quality of Life amenities (White p. 8-9, Cohen p. 11).
The research and design focus specifically on the needs of Anderson, Indiana, as a test case for economic revitalization. Through this study, the needs of Anderson in terms of Quality of Life improvements, economic growth, and business diversity are compared to the needs and desires of businesses when choosing what city and region in which to locate. The result of this research is a Quality of Life plan containing the city wide amenity developments necessary to attract new businesses, and examples of potential business amenity development.
