How to Create A City Vision
Is your city development stagnating? Does it seem like city government is caught in a cycle of debate that’s overshadowing new growth? Are city officials struggling to work together towards a definite goal? Maybe it’s time to shake things up with a new focus.
Changing from “what we’ve always done” to “what we should do for the good of the city” requires a vision of what could be. Where an inspiring, yet realistic, vision exists people will rally around it and work together to the city’s benefit.
First Step
First, you’ll want to take stock of what your city already has to offer, and what your city will need to grow. Taking a good, hard look at the reality of what’s going on in your community is essential for developing a vision that can be translated into the real world.
While you don’t want to be more optimistic than warranted, don’t sell your community short either. Every community has retail potential. If there’s someone in your community traveling out of the city for goods or services, then you’re losing revenue. This also means there’s an opportunity for the city to maximize it’s potential and look into providing retail opportunists that are more attractive to both visitors and locals.
Taking Action
When you’re looking at action steps for maximizing your city’s potential, Retail Attractions’ founder Rickey Hayes says that, at minimum, every community needs to:
- Improve the city’s cosmetic appearance to put your “best foot forward.”
- Stay up with the times by looking at available technology and implementing what the city can afford.
- Understand the population living within the city limits and trade area. Know their income levels, occupations, education levels, age distribution, cultural backgrounds, and housing profile.
- Collect development-related data that is current and relevant, including information on sales tax growth, building permits, traffic counts, etc.
- Look at the city’s development process and make changes as needed to ensure it is as seamless and efficient as possible.
- Develop an understanding of basic real estate principles, land values, confidentiality issues and development criteria.
- Learn how to partner with a retailer or a developer and create an environment that fosters investment.
We Can Help
This list probably seems daunting, but you can take care of most items on here with one simple step: hire Retail Attractions. We have the expertise and experience necessary to help your city create and implement a vision for retail development.
Get reliable data on your city population and other factors influencing retail growth with our Demographic Data and Market Analysis. We provide the information you need to start planing a development project, and we’ll help you interpret the data so you can come up with realistic, innovative plans. Interested developers will also want this information, and they’ll appreciate that you had a trusted third party compile the demographics.
We’ll guide your city through four Strategic Planning steps. With our help, you’ll establish a clear vision statement that will guide your city’s growth, identify critical issues that impact the city’s overall health, determine key stakeholders’ responsibilities in addressing these critical issues, and develop a multi-year strategic plan for the city. To get started, click here and contact us.