How to mitigate construction in your downtown

Nur Asri is an Associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

Downtowns and cities around the country are undergoing rapid physical transformations whether due to re-investment or adaptation to technological advancements. However, during the process of transformation, roads and sidewalks are often torn up and diverted, street furniture and public spaces are re-designed and replaced and the shopping environment is essentially disrupted.

Regardless of the length of time in which the disruptions occurs (two months or a whole year), customer traffic for retail businesses will be affected because downtowns appear to be less accessible by car and even more difficult to navigate on foot. Furthermore, construction often occurs during the day (and during peak visitation times!) and can be loud and dusty, resulting in an overall unpleasant shopping experience.

Downtown businesses associations and storeowners across the country are adopting a variety of strategies to mitigate the impacts of construction on their operations, sales and visitation.

Here are some steps that you can take to maintain business vitality during your downtown transformation: 

‘Still Open for Business’ Signage

These signs help increase visibility of stores to pedestrians and vehicles passing through your downtown. Customers often assume businesses are closed during construction and are therefore quick to make the decision to drive past and go somewhere else altogether so it is crucial that accurate information is relayed to customers through these signs. Include the names of businesses that are open and directions to any alternate business access, and make sure the signs are placed at key intersections and entry points to your downtown. Some cities have also gotten really creative with their signs:

In Arlington, MA, Capitol Square Business Association plays around with the regular text found on construction signs.

In the City of North Bend, where roads were being torn up for an infrastructure project to bury utility lines and replace the sidewalks and street trees, sign spinners were hired to sing, dance, and do cartwheels while holding out signs that say ‘Downtown Business are Open!’

Signs, however, are only one part of the solution. There are many more steps that need to be taken to ensure that downtown businesses aren’t severely impacted by the process of transformation.

Marketing/ Promotion
Many business associations have dedicated resources to organizing district-wide marketing campaigns to educate customers about construction work and businesses that still need their support during this time.

Pre- Construction
In Madison WI, marketing efforts began two years before construction occurred in order to inform locals that stores and restaurants would remain open throughout the process. The guerilla campaign was extensive and consisted of yard signs, community newsletters, local media coverage and even a Facebook page.

During Construction 

The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership launched an ‘Eat Drink Shop [HERE]’ Campaign. The Partnership rolled out bright yellow signs and handouts that list all of the businesses that were open during construction. 

Meanwhile, in Bangor, Maine, (and also downtown Coral Gables) happy hour events ensured that customers were still coming downtown after dark despite the facelift it was undergoing. Bars affected by the construction zone participated in the ‘Hard Hat Happy Hours’ events, which took place weekly. Customers who attended were then rewarded with highly coveted downtown parking passes and gift certificates to local businesses to drive return visits. Similarly, many other downtowns have also handed out coupon books to entice customers to continue shopping thru the construction period.

Valet parking
When convenient on-street parking spaces are temporarily lost to construction activity, customers may be less than willing to patronize downtown stores if they have to park in parking garages/lots located farther away from the retail core. Every effort should be made to ease the driving customer’s journey (especially if the majority of your downtown customers are arriving by car!) and this might include a valet service.

In Birmingham, MI, where construction through the city center is expected to take about 4-5 years, the city’s promotional arm Birmingham Shopping District is planning to provide valet service that would allow customers to drive to the edge of the construction site to drop off their cars before hitting the rest of the downtown on foot.

Painted fences/barriers

Finally, there are creative ways to turn construction fencing and barriers into public art. Back in 2012, we featured Alliance for Downtown New York’s RE:Construction program. Since then many more downtowns and cities have also turned to art as a way to mask the eyesore of construction. In 2013, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance put out a call for artists to adopt 8x4 plywood panels that were put up as fencing around the reconstruction of the Commons public space. Selected artists were invited to paint directly on to the panels that stayed up throughout the construction period.

In downtown Seattle, WA mural artists and artist-teams have created 200-foot long murals now on view on the Civic Square construction fence. The site will be home to a mixed-use, high-rise tower and open space that will complete the city's Civic Center Campus.

While the above strategies aim to ease the impact of construction for customers, there are also steps that need to be taken to mitigate the impact on business operations.

Loading/Unloading
Even without the complications of construction downtown, loading and unloading of delivery trucks is already a common issue faced by business owners. Without a well-thought out contingency plan, your downtown may face heavy congestion as a result of trucks double-parking on narrow side streets.

To avoid this, pre-planned alternative delivery routes must be identified for affected drivers and relayed early on so that staff are alerted to the change of procedures. In addition, detour signs must be posted clearly to guide delivery drivers. Where possible, alleyways may be re-purposed for loading/unloading during construction phase.

Low-interest loans
With larger-scale construction projects, many cities such as Portland, OR and Salt Lake City, UT have set precedents for dedicating resources to offer low-interest loans to affected businesses. Salt Lake City’s Economic Development Office, for example, established a revolving loan program and set aside funding for light rail construction mitigation up to $20,000 at 3% interest per applicant. Successful applicants simply had to be within one block of construction and be able to demonstrate how they were being impacted.

Finally, with additional financial and technical assistance, business owners might even consider implementing another method to reach customers if they don’t already have one. Starting online delivery services can certainly nudge customers who are unable or unwilling to navigate through construction to continue to support downtown businesses.

Make sure your downtown transformation works for you
The menu of strategies offered here cost lots of time and money to plan and implement. (Note: Birmingham Shopping District set aside $100,000 just to carry out a promotional campaign including free valet parking and shopping coupons). Depending on the capacity and resources of your downtown, and also the scale of construction happening, you may elect strategies that work best for your businesses.

Most importantly, ensure that you start planning early and work very closely with local merchants to ensure their buy-in and support for your elected strategies.

The Age of the Selfie

Greetings from Austin Mural, TX. Photo: Yelp

Nur Asri is an Associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates.

Whether we care to admit or not, we’ve all taken one or been forced to take one. I'm talking about selfies. Selfies are digital self-portraits that began to really take off when smart phones became equipped with the forward-facing camera. The photos themselves haven’t radically changed retail or downtowns – believe me, people were taking self-portraits even when they had film cameras. However, when the digital self-portraits are uploaded to social media platforms and tagged and shared by users across the world, that’s when it starts to have an impact on the brand and identity of a retailer or an entire downtown.

The selfie is now a common tool that people – young and old – use to share their individual experiences with others and to self-brand. The marketing power of the selfie cannot be understated. A HTC survey in 2013 of more than 2,000 mobile phone users in the UK found that about 51% of the UK had taken a selfie, creating about 35 million photos every month. Although a greater share of those aged 18-24 had taken a selfie, almost a third of those aged 65 and older had also taken one, indicating that the selfie can work on a wide range of customer segments.

Just to understand the magnitude of selfie-taking, we took a look at the number of selfies taken on Instagram.

Sure, selfies are often criticized for being associated with vanity or narcissism but selfies are often the first and last step a customer takes in their purchasing journey. Selfies provide inspiration for those seeking to make purchases and selfies provide validation for those who have already bought products – it’s a near instant feedback loop for customers. Selfies have indeed increased sharing of product information and resulted in more educated and conscious consumers. Today, customers search for authentic peer recommendations for a range of products and even for travel decisions so information shared on social media has in many ways surpassed the influence of magazines and newspapers. A 2016 TopDeck Travel Survey in 2016 found that in choosing where to travel, 76% of Millennials surveyed said that friends’ recommendations…and social media came far ahead of travel-agent advice.

How are retailers making use of selfies?

Retailers in a wide range of categories have used selfies as a leverage to raise brand and product awareness, and also boost in-store traffic.

1. Drug stores/ Beauty

Interactive mirrors placed in UK drug store, Superdrug Beauty Studio, allow customers to experiment with hair colors virtually and take selfies after getting hair or make-up done. This helps the store’s customers to share the quality of services being offered in-store while also providing free marketing. To make the sharing of the selfie easier, the store features iPads that enable customers to send the selfie to Facebook or Twitter with the official campaign hashtag, #TreatYourSelfie.

2. Apparel

Many apparel stores from Victoria’s Secret to French Connection and Ted Baker have used selfies as part of their marketing campaigns. These stores encourage shoppers to take photos in-store by creating a perfect backdrop or setting for taking selfies. These include special installations, interactive selfie booths and attractive storefront displays. The stores then encourage shoppers to share the selfies on their personal Twitter and Instagram profiles using official campaign hashtags by providing incentives like free gifts for anyone that uploads the photo to social media or by displaying the selfies on a public screen or storefront window.

By displaying the selfies publicly, passersby became very engaged with the store. They were able to vote for favorite selfies using hand sensors and were then more likely to walk into the store.  

3. Food

Even with food, selfies can happen. The phenomenon known as foodstagramming is the act of taking photos of one’s food and posting them on social media. Restaurants are certainly taking advantage of it because it can be free advertising (depending on the photographer’s comments!).

How can downtowns use selfies?

Speaking of food, this week is Restaurant Week across New York City and sure enough many business improvement districts are using food selfies as a way to raise awareness of the district events and drive greater traffic to the restaurants in these areas post-event. Grand Street BID in Brooklyn, for example, is offering foodstagrammers a chance to win $50 to their favorite Grand Street Restaurant if they upload a picture of their Restaurant Week meal with the hashtag #DineOnGrand and tag the BID in the photos.  

Beyond food selfies, commercial districts can also use iconic art and signage and interactive sculptures to encourage selfies by visitors and to reinforce their identities. In the past, we’ve featured the I Amsterdam sign as one example of a way that signage can drive popular images posted on social media. Many other downtowns have driven high visitation rates with iconic selfie spots. Here are some examples:

In Austin, murals across the city have become destinations in themselves and visitors are taking selfies in front of them and sharing images on social media with hashtags #Austin #ATX

In San Diego, the gateway signage to the Gaslamp Quarter has also become very iconic as a selfie spot for visitors to the area.

Creating a selfie moment in your downtown, like in a retail store, can do wonders in attracting more visitors and customers. The rapid sharing and outsourcing of opinions amongst consumers today can either make or break your downtown so make sure you provide positive moments for visitors to snap a quick and pretty selfie.

How to create a successful selfie moment downtown

First, remember to create a backdrop for the selfie to happen. This means good lighting, mirrors and attractive or significant art. Holiday lighting displays are often great backdrops, as are large sculptures, murals and gateway signs. The backdrop should also reflect the identity and brand of the downtown in order for the retweets and sharing of social media posts to be fully effective in driving interest and traffic to your downtown.

Second, make uploading the selfie easy. While stores and retailers can easily provide ipads and devices to customers, downtowns should instead think about providing free public wifi. From personal experience, I’m always more likely to upload and share content when I can easily get online. If I’m not able to instantly upload images after taking them, I’m likely to forget doing so later.

Third, provide incentives for visitors to take the selfies. With some visitors, you’ll need to nudge. Offer a chance to win a shopping trip or discounts at downtown stores if someone takes a selfie in the area and uploads it to social media. Featuring selfies taken downtown on outdoor advertisements and interactive platforms may also nudge some visitors to take photos. It’s always fun to see a photo you’ve taken up on a public platform!

Finally, make sure you aggregate the selfies and build your downtown brand through a common hashtag or downtown social media account that visitors can tag in their posts. This can help you drive traffic to your downtown website or even directly downtown! Make sure everyone on social media ‘liking’ or ‘retweeting’ posts is able to connect the selfie to your downtown.

Round Up: Transit Hub Resurgence, Alleyway Installations, Color in a Gray City, A Changing Newark, Reducing Traffic in the Built Environment

Full steam ahead: Why transit hub development is seeing a resurgence
Transit hubs in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City see renewed interest and resurgence of development based on new emphasis of the whole transit experience beyond just the transportation to include the full immersive experience of dining and shopping as well. 

Chattanooga’s forgotten alleyways come back to life with architectural installations
Four alleyways in downtown Chattanooga have been transformed by artist's installations to remind residents of these often forgotten and unused passages. 

Pilsen: An Explosion of Color in a Gray City
Southwest of Chicago's downtown lies Pilsen, a neighborhood that has evolved over the decades to become a current hot spot of culture, color, and community among the gray of the Windy City.

In Shadow of Manhattan, a Troubled City Is Having a Moment
Newark, New Jersey has tried many times in the past to turn the page and put itself back on the map. With many new investments and attention being diverted to its downtown, it might have its strongest chance yet.

Built Environment Policies to Reduce Vehicle Travel in Massachusetts

A pragmatic six-point plan to cut traffic published by the State Smart Transportation Initiative gives much credit in reduction in traffic to mixed-use and Complete Street development. Vehicle-Miles Traveled, a measurable outcome, is discussed in this piece.

Image source: albany2030.org

Round Up: Streets That Define America, Barcelona's Superblocks, Detroit's Food Incubators, Illuminating Blight

10 STREETS THAT DEFINE AMERICA
This Curbed article gives perspective to different characterizations a street can embody. Referring to their work Curbed says, "Four factors emerged as the dominant forces shaping our cities: Regeneration fueled by small businesses, new development and the changes that follow, alternative transportation options, and rich, if burdensome, cultural legacies."

Beautiful graphics, images, videos and storytelling in this piece!

What New York Can Learn From Barcelona’s ‘Superblocks’
Unlike New York's attempt to carve out public plazas in busy pedestrian corridors, Barcelona's plan to create "superblocks represents a more radical approach that fundamentally challenges the notion that streets even belong to cars."

FoodLab Detroit Is Baking Equity Into Detroit's Food Scene
Detroit has a growing food scene. Through funding and awareness, FoodLab Detroit created Detroit Kitchen Connect, "a network of shared kitchens in community centers and churches that double as incubator space" and "also provides low-income entrepreneurs of color access to the organization’s social and financial capital."

Illuminating Blight in Upstate New York
A temporary art installation in the three Capital Region cities calls for a solution to vacancy and abandonment by illuminating 100's of abandoned buildings to cast light on the topic of blight. "Breathing Lights" is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge and hopes to draw "attention to the widespread issue of blight and calling for a tangible path to revitalization."

Round Up: Urban Taxidermy, Tightening the Rust Belt, Tips for a Successful Art Tour, The Elements of Placemaking

Jargon Watch: "Urban Taxidermy"

As cities struggle to maintain character of neighborhoods and commercial districts, they are conflicted between two options, the preservation of old buildings versus allowing development to proceed. By preserving a district you also preserve a "walkable, vibrant streetscape where people want to be." Enter Urban Taxidermy.

Robert Allsopp defines urban taxidermy as "the art of preserving, stuffing and mounting buildings for lifelike effect to simulate an intrinsic social, cultural or commercial vitality."

Before urban taxidermy.

After urban taxidermy.

Do Parts of the Rust Belt ‘Need to Die Off’?

Experts suggest that struggling Rust Belt cities must look to the future of their cities by slimming down strategically through "smart decline."  Smart decline refers to "the ways in which cities can plan around population loss and find ways to manage it (and maybe grow again one day)." Some strategies include moving lowest density occupants to compact neighborhoods, building greenbelts instead of maintaining untraveled streets, encouraging urban farming or letting the barren areas revert to nature.

Helping the Public Enjoy Art

A multi-tiered approach to getting people out for an art tour in downtown Des Moines, Iowa offers some ideas on how to attract visitors to your district for one-off events and beyond.

Public Space at the Crossroads of Everything

The "place" in Placemaking is the combination of many more elements than you might've previously even considered. 

Utility Boxes Get an Artistic Upgrade

Scott Landfried is LOA's newest staff person, blog contributor, and graduate student in planning at Hunter College. 

You know those clunky gray metal boxes at intersections. They are a bit omnipresent around cities but easily looked past. These unwelcoming boxes of variable sizes and rectangular shapes sit at most intersections, along our streets, next to buildings, and in commercial corridors.  Wouldn't it be nice to see what a little creativity and initiative can do to turn bland into beautiful?  Many cities are doing just that.

Calgary, Canada (Image
& Artist: Sam Hester)

In a recent article I saw, Minneapolis is taking the initiative to put the paintbrush and power in the hands of its citizens.  The article weighs the pros and cons of paint versus vinyl wrapping and points out the reportedly difficult approval process.

Calgary, Canada

Streetscape artwork and improvement are valuable as node or landmarks, something that attracts and draws, something that becomes connected with the character of the district itself.  I can imagine two people arranging plans to meet to eat and shop saying something like, "Let's meet at the A to Z box" or "Meet me at the bright box on 16th." "Let's meet at that gray bland box on 9th," said no one, ever.

Toronto, Canada (Image: Kayla Rocca)

Check out our Pinterest account for other great utility boxes. While looking for good examples, I was reminded of my many years living in Austin.  I remembered seeing utility boxes painted (possibly unauthorized) while driving or biking the streets and enjoyed the brightness and creativity they offered.

Artist: Kristine Heycants
Image: City of Minneapolis

Here are some interesting points regarding utility box programs:

• initiated in many cities as graffiti abatement programs,
• boxes are typically painted by professional artists selected through application process,
• not just any box can be painted but typically only utility boxes owned by the city,
• typically painting of boxes can cost anywhere from $800-1800 and is covered by the city or community groups.

Other links and readings:
Calgary Utility Box Public Art Program
Boston's Paintbox Program
Glendale, CAs "Beyond the Box" Program
Rochester, NY - Painted Utility Boxes
Google image search: "painted utility boxes"

Murals: Resurgence and Placemaking in Commercial Districts

Beautiful. Inspiring. Informative. Vibrant.  These are just a few words that describe outdoor murals and streetscape art which are now seeing resurgence in popularity and importance.

Advertisement murals were the original streetscape murals.  Starting in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s they advertised and promoted brands from horse saddles to biscuits and typically painted on brick.  Frank Jump, a NYC based photographer, chronicles these ad murals (http://www.frankjump.com).

Photo credit Sarah Goodyear via citylab.com

Taking the lead of Chicago’s muralists, whose work received national publicity at the end of the 1960’s, cities across US saw the potential of powerful public imagery as murals were an important devise for perhaps even novice painters to express themselves and have a voice in their community. 

Here at the Commercial District Advisor we are on board with encouraging BIDs, business corridors, and communities to add murals, whether for advertisement or public art, to their streetscapes in order to add soul, personality, and life to their areas.  A study of Philadelphia commercial corridors (Econsult, 2006) found the Mural Arts Program (MAP) had demonstrated and positive effects on retail sales along the corridors where they were placed. The murals addressed and rectified visible signs of physical degradation and also decrease the perception of crime, both critical factors in commercial revitalization.

The good news is that we are seeing a growing trend of variable forms of murals and streetscape artwork, including:

• vintage  advertisement – whether left the way it is, newly painted to depict a vintage look, or refurbished
• a current advertisement – such as an album release or a new show on television
• store names or signs
• murals noting location or direction to a business
• community art pieces
• graffiti murals

Image by Commercial District Advisor

The research further supports the impact of murals on local conditions. Murals help to avoid “dead zones” of nothingness on the walls, this in turn reminds pedestrians where they are and gives them a safe and inviting feeling (http://mds.marshall.edu/etd/492/, 2008). Also, evidence points out that graffiti murals are a cost effective way to keep surfaces free from vandalism and create visual cues to residents that the place they call home is desirable (Verel, 2013). 

Seeing suggestions turned into action...

Image from newyorktimes.com, Michael Craig-Martin, Art Production Fund

In some communities, murals are a wonderful way to beautify the physical environment, keep surfaces graffiti free, which in turn decreases the perception of crime. A few years ago, our firm, together with LISC MetroEdge, completed a retail strategy analysis for La Casa de Don Pedro.  Since then, our mural recommendation has driven a host of initiatives on the street, and this week La Casa is celebrating “The Gates Project”, which resulted in vibrant advertising murals on storefront gates.

5 Interactive Musical Installations

Public art installations are a great strategy for rejuvenating public spaces and connecting with the public in a fun way. There are different approaches a city can take to connect with its citizens, and one approach that has gained prominence in recent years is music. Here are five interactive public art installations that have flooded many ears with the sound of music. 

1) Play Me, I’m Yours

Play Me, I’m Yours began in 2008 when 15 pianos were installed across the city of Birmingham, UK for three weeks. Street pianos are designed to engage with the public by inviting anyone, experienced musician or novice, to try their hand at the piano. They also provide a rare opportunity for musicians to share their creativity by performing to the public. Since 2008, the project has toured internationally. In 2010, Play Me, I’m Yours appeared in New York City. The installation of 60 pianos across the five boroughs was spearheaded by the New York-based nonprofit arts group Sing for Hope.

Image via Wall Street Journal

2) Piano Stairs

In 2009, Volkswagen converted a set of stairs into black and white piano keys inside the Odenplan subway station in Stockholm, Sweden. The initiative is part of a marketing campaign called the Fun Theory, which is based on the idea that the easiest way to change people’s behavior is through fun.  The piano staircase in Stockholm quickly gained attention for its effectiveness, and has been replicated around the world, including in Auckland, Melbourne, Stockholm, Milan, Istanbul, and Colombia. 

3) 21 Swings

Each spring, 21 multicolored swings are placed throughout Montreal’s entertainment and cultural district, Quartier des Spectacles. Each seat is a musical instrument that plays prerecorded sounds while people swing. The more people that swing, the more melodies that form, turning the installation into a giant collective instrument where people achieve more when they work together. 

4) The Kendall Band

The Kendall Band is an installation in the Kendall Station, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that consists of three interactive instruments. To play you need to pull one of the handles, located on either the inbound or outbound subway platform wall. The installation, created between 1986 and 1988, is part of the “Arts on the Line” program - the first program in the nation to incorporate art into public transportation systems.

Image via Cambridge Day

5) ‘Pulse of the City’

‘Pulse of the City’ is an innovative project located in Christopher Columbus Park, in Boston, which utilizes the concept of measuring people’s heart rates to create brief musical compositions. The installation is a solar-powered unit in the shape of a heart with handles on either side. The unit emits white light to attract passerby and creates the musical composition when someone holds the handlebars – a very distinct experience when compared to listening to your heartbeat through a series of beeps and lines on a chart. 

 

A new musical project has been proposed in New York City by musician James Murphy (former LCD Soundsystem frontman) to turn the beeping sound that occurs each time you swipe your MetroCard at a turnstile, into a pleasant note that harmonizes with other turnstiles. You can learn more about the project here, and if you like the idea, sign their petition to help make it happen!

Guest Blogger Maria Chernaya is an urban planner based in Brooklyn.