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SDAT Comes to Springfield, Illinois

By Joel Mills, Director, Communities by Design

This month, the Center for Communities by Design conducted a Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) project in Springfield, Illinois. The team included Jane Jenkins, John Shields, FAIA, Catherine Benotto, AIA, ASLA, Seleta Reynolds, AICP, Eve Picker, Matt Raimi, AICP, and Jason Claunch. Springfield, which hosted a R/UDAT process in 2003, became the first community in the state of Illinois to host an SDAT. Hundreds of participants engaged in the 3-day process focused on downtown revitalization.

Recently, over 2,000 state government jobs have been relocated away from Springfield, weakening downtown activity. Local leaders asked the team to help them build a viable strategy to diversify the downtown, build more residential development, and create an attractive investment platform for the area. Currently, downtown is struggling to build its own momentum for revitalization. An op-ed in the State Journal Register described the challenge. “We have a nice, clean downtown filled with history, yet there’s been a loss of residents and workers, few housing opportunities and vacant commercial space. What can be done?”

The downtown challenges are driving the community to think differently about a successful approach to creating a vibrant core. As one local stakeholder said, “It’s harder to redevelop and revitalize downtown now than it was 15 years ago. Those communities that are doing so well now started 15-20 years ago.” Lisa Stott, the Co-Chair of the SDAT Steering Committee, commented that “We can’t go to the local or state government well anymore. However, we can do this. We can do it together.” A Sangamon County planning official told the team that the “biggest challenge is attitudinal. We don’t have a shared vision of success that can overcome inertia regarding downtown.” The SDAT Team crafted a district-based approach to focus on strategic locations and catalyze investment.

More information on the Springfield SDAT

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