Causes of Inner-City Business District Decline

After decades of decline, cities are rebounding, and one key to bringing urban areas back to life is revitalizing commercial districts. There are different approaches to doing that, a lot of challenges, and not a lot of “how-to ” books. This report draws on the existing literature on the revitalization of inner-city commercial districts to examine alternative approaches — including the popular Main Street strategy — and identify best practices. Because there is limited literature that focuses exclusively on inner-city commercial districts, the report draws selectively from a more extensive base of research that encompasses inner-city neighborhood revitalization, neighborhood economic development, and downtown development. This is the second of four reports in a study, funded by the Fannie Mae Foundation, on the use of the Main Street approach to revitalize inner-city business districts