A Bit About Midtown Village

Located in the heart of Center City Philadelphia, Midtown Village is bounded by Market Street to the north, 11th Street to the east, Spruce Street to the south, and Broad Street to the west (not including City Hall). This is, of course, within the Center City District (CCD), Philadelphia's downtown business improvement district, which covers a much broader geographic area. Both the CCD and Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), which promotes regional attractions and events, partnered with the Midtown Village Merchants Association (MVMA) in the Midtown Village effort. Midtown Village also overlaps with neighborhood affectionately called the Gayborhood, popular for its many LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender) establishments and bounded by Walnut Street to the north, 11th Street to the east, Pine Street to the south, and Juniper Street to the west. Many members of the MVMA are proud members of Philadelphia's LGBT community and both the CCD and GPTMC have avidly promoted LGBT events and attractions centered around the Gayborhood.

This article from the Midtown Village website that discusses how stakeholders came up with the district's name inspired my contemplation of the Bard's eternal question uttered from Juliet's lips: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet". Whether you call it simply Philly, the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, or the Sixth Borough, it is pretty evident that Philadelphia is plagued by an identity crisis. Pennsylvania's premier city is still undergoing transformation from postindustrial city to the Next Great City. Bearing this in mind, I find the Midtown Village to be a more satisfying name than Blocks Below Broad (B3), proposed by developer Tony Goldman when he sparked investment in the area years ago.

Initial Impressions on Marketing & Preservation Planning

PennDesign planning and preservation students past and present have given recommendations on marketing and branding, often under the broad heading of "programming," in their client-based projects. However, we are often quick to embrace marketing or branding ideas that sound good to us based on the well-read writings of economist Richard Florida regarding the creative class. Certainly it is true that cities across the United States are attempting to attract young and creative professionals as a demographic. Furthermore, it is also true that historic structures attract a niche market of buyers as preservationist Donovan Rypkema has stated. Thus, I see that there exists a niche market of residents, businesses, and institutions willing to invest in historic neighborhoods. It makes sense for real estate developers to address this base in marketing schemes. Wearing the hat of a preservation planner, I support the preservation of the culture as well as historic structures.

How do we as preservation and planning professionals encourage these parties to engage in the revitalization of historic neighborhoods without simply altering the recipe of cookie-cutter marketing schemes to regional tastes? Advocating for a generic landscape of what cultural critic David Brooks calls "latte towns" is akin to advocating for the generic "sprawlscape" of Wal-Marts and McDonald's detested by many planners. My initial impressions indicate the necessity of community and stakeholder visioning to inform marketing for historic neighborhoods. I look forward to exploring the evolution of "image" as an expression of both existing and desired values within a place, particularly in my proposed case studies in Philadelphia: (1) Center City's Midtown Village, (2) South Philadelphia's East Passyunk Business Improvement District, (3) West Philadelphia's University City District.

Blogging Experiment

I've decided to experiment with blogging as a way to keep track of my trains of thought and other musings throughout my thesis process. Stay tuned for much much more during this academic year regarding the role of marketing and branding in historic neighborhood revitalization...