By: Babulal Varma, MD, Omkar Realtors & Developers
Track2Realty Exclusive: Hong Kong has emerged as a world class city with tall vertical structures, sector-by-sector massive development, open spaces and greenery and most prominently, Floor Space Index (FSI) of 5–35. Similarly for urban revitalization, there are several policies and programmes in American cities.
The pursuit of growth through economic development has become the key strategy in efforts to revitalize older American cities. All levels of government have come to play roles in the complex inter-governmental process of designing, funding and implementing economic development programmes.
With the advent of urban renewal in 1949, and for the succeeding 45 years, the federal government has taken a proactive role in urban development and revitalization, principally through a plethora of grant programmes involving physical development, social transfer payments and economic development initiatives.
These are various revitalization strategies emphasizing physical development tools for individual projects, regional growth management, public-private partnership efforts which worked alone or a partnership with variety of strategies and programmes in various cities.
The use of public investment was made as a catalyst to spur private investment in a particular redevelopment project. The creation of downtown tax districts was used as a tool, not only to raise funds to carry out particular projects but also as a device to manage and promote the city’s core.
The use of private, non-profit development corporations was brought under practice. A number of the case study cities found that complex and highly entrepreneurial projects could not be managed by traditional city agencies. They, therefore, created private, non-profit entities to oversee project development.
..…to be continued
