Downtown development as a strategy for revitalization in Providence, Rhode Island

Abstract

This thesis examines the incidence of benefits resulting from downtown development in Providence, Rhode Island. Despite the acclaim accorded to the recent downtown development, there have been very few assessments of the project. Drawing on the critiques of the corporate center approach, which resulted in uneven spatial development and neighborhood decline, this study establishes a framework for analyzing revitalization that explicitly addresses whether neighborhood residents have access to the social and economic benefits conferred by development. The findings of this study suggest that downtown development in Providence has to some extent succeeded in repositioning the city as a regional economic and destination center through the development of tourism and service-based industries. In addition, it has successfully eradicated the physical characteristics of blight and transformed the landscape. Nevertheless, analysis of tax revenues demonstrates that the downtown development has not resulted in a strong net fiscal benefit to the city. Moreover, the project has failed to link the benefits of development in a direct and systematic manner to surrounding neighborhoods, particularly low-income communities. This study suggests strategies for Providence and other cities to ensure a more equitable distribution of economic benefits from downtown development, as well as ways to improve project assessment and fiscal returns to the public sector. It concludes by offering a new model for downtown development that identifies both neighborhood and downtown outcomes as indicators of successful revitalization.