
This course focuses on the physical and economic renewal of urban neighborhood Main Streets by combining classroom work with an applied class project. The course content covers four broad areas: an overview of the causes for urban business district decline, the challenges faced in revitalization and the type of revitalization strategies employed; the physical and economic development planning tools used to understand and assess urban Main Streets from physical design and economic development perspectives; the policies, interventions, and investments used to foster urban commercial revitalization; and the formulation of a revitalization plan for an urban commercial district.