How to revitalize cities without waterfronts

The Atlantic Cities blog has a great article on ways landlocked towns can use existing railroad infrastructure to spur revitalization in much the same way their waterfront cousins  use access to water as a way to bring vitality to a neighborhood. The case in point is the landlocked city of Birmingham, Alabama, with its great network of rail yards and proximity to a large research institution (University of Alabama).

There are clear parallels between Birmingham and Durham, both in terms of the existing railroad infrastructure, the re-purposing of the old manufacturing base and investing in university-city relationship to spur growth. It is a great read.

Four Part Series in the Herald Sun on Downtown Redevelopment

Source: Wikipedia

*Updated* The Herald Sun is running a four-part series, titled "A Slow Renaissance"' about the development of Downtown. The series begins with an overview of downtown development, a progress report on the Sun Trust tower, and the redevelopment status of Parrish Street. The last article covers the status of the Chesterfield Building (next to Brighleaf square). Although the articles do not break any new ground, they provide a good synopsis of the last year and a half of downtown progress. Ninth Street and OWD are very close to downtown and will obviously benefit from its continued economic development. And while I strongly believe in "a rising tide lifting all boats" theory of economic development, I worry that the Ninth Street area, and particularly continued development of the Phase II of Ninth Street North, may not be getting as much attention from the city officials as, perhaps, it should.