How Tampa Turned a Dead Zone Into a Downtown

Alabama's Historic Prattville Redevelopment Authority has emulated the successful downtown revitalization project in Columbus, Georgia, in an effort to address vacant industrial sites and a blighted downtown. Through a collaboration with local entrepreneurs, a private real estate company, the Chamber of Commerce, and other departments and members of the local government, the HPRA is transforming the small city. Several local business prepare to open, the old cotton gin mill will open new apartments, and recent community events demonstrate an increasing public interest in a revitalized downtown Prattville.

Michigan's roads have been in disrepair for years. Now with increased private sector funding and partnerships between companies and the government, the state could start to see improvements in its infrastructure.

After years of developmental stagnancy, the city of Waterbury, Connecticut puts into action a way for developers to renew buildings without having to take financial responsibility for previous owners' environmental waste. Through a public-private partnership between the city and development investors, developers have begun to break ground on renewing the city's dilapidated factories.

A town once plagued by a reputation of being an asbestos Superfund site as well as having been hit by the timber wars, Libby, Montana is back on the map. Lincoln County commissioner, Mark Peck of Libby, the county seat, decided to make it a priority to fix the negative connotation surrounding the town and partnered with a public relations firm to rebrand the city through the use of the community's unique story of rising from asbestos.

Turin used to be a bustling hub for the automobile industry but since then it has been left as a dead industrial area. The Ex-incet development aims to change this by using an old company's headquarters to be the site where innovation and creativity can be brought together as people from different sectors work under the same roof.

A development firm in Bridgeport, CT relies on public-private partnerships to fund renewal of blighted sites into upgraded buildings, including a brand new charter school. With a mix of government and low-income housing funding, the firm can develop hundreds of units in a quick amount of time, allowing communities to benefit from rapid renewal in the area.

A multi-millionaire has poured money into his home suburb of Irlam, buying up empty stores, funding public art projects, and supporting the town center, sports center, health clinic, and train station. Employment is up, but this model of urban renewal raises ethical questions and may not be easily replicable.

Swamped by short-term vacation rentals, Barcelona pushed Airbnb to share data with government officials and help ensure that only licensed properties are listed on the site. The agreement offers a model for how other cities can respond to the same problem.

Philadelphia is one of the poorest cities. Its poverty is a huge concern and feeds into many of the negative aspects of the city. The city is now looking to Smart Cities technology such as smart streetlights, to provide information to various government sectors, which helps them implement new strategies to tackle this problem.

The California Legislature, inspired by a decades-old Massachusetts affordable housing bill, recently passed SB 35. However, a few differences distinguish the two bills. In Massachusetts, the 40B bill fast-tracks development projects that include 20% affordable units in cities that have below the mandated amount of affordable housing. California’s bill rewards affordable housing projects, but it also rewards projects with above-average income housing. Still, the bill is a big step forward in the fight for more affordable housing at the state level.