Making the Case for Quality Design

As a Main Street leader, you will be faced with many situations that will require you to advocate for quality design — from fighting demolition threats to advising on streetscape enhancements to ensuring all voices are heard during the master planning process. Section 3: Making the Case for Quality Design offers succinct messaging, talking points, and relevant research to support your efforts in making the case for quality design as it pertains to benefits in the following key areas: environmental sustainability, economic vitality, and social well-being.

Section Resources

Environmental Benefits of Quality Design

• The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse, Preservation Green Lab
  America Saves Resources
  • Online Toolkit, Preservation Green Lab
  • 10 Low-Cost or No-Cost Tips for Small Businesses to Save Energy, And Money, Preservation Green Lab
  • A Guide To Help SBA Lenders Understand and Communicate the Value of Energy Efficiency Investments, National Renewable Energy Lab
  • Borrower’s Guide To Increase the Bottom Line Using Energy Efficiency, National Renewable Energy Lab
• Historic Preservation: at The Core of a Dynamic New York City, PlaceEconomics/​NYC Landmarks Conservancy
• LEED v4 for Neighborhood Development, U.S. Green Building Council
• Energy Star
• Environmental Protection Agency
• U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
• U.S. Department of Energy
  

Economic Benefits of Quality Design

Direct Investment:

• Main Street America Revitalization Statistics, National Main Street Center
• The Federal Historic Tax Credit, National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Preservation and Economics, National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Prosperity Through Preservation one-pager, National Trust for Historic Preservation

Business Recruitment and Retention:

• Small Business Administration (SBA) report
• Colorado Downtown Streets, Colorado Department of Local Affairs, Colorado Main Street, Community Builders
• Older Smaller Better, Preservation Green Lab
• Upstairs Downtown, case studies and feasibility studies of historic building redevelopment
• Smart Math of Mixed Development, Joseph Minicozzi and Urban3

Additional Resources:

• Economics and Historic Preservation: A Review of the Literature, Brookings Institute
• Why Preserve, Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation
• The Economic Benefits of Sustainable Streets, NYC Department of Transportation
• The Value of Good Design, compiled by CABE, commissioned by Bartlett School of Planning, University College London

Social Benefits of Quality Design

Connectivity and Culture:

• The Social Effects of Preservation: Social Wellbeing and the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program in Philadelphia, Ellis Miller Mumford, University of Pennsylvania
• A Literature Review of the Social, Economic and Environmental Impact of Architecture and Design — Research Findings, Scottish Government
• Social Benefits of Heritage Conservation, Canadian Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Culture, and Sport

Health:

• Social Determinants of Health, Center for Disease Control
• Robert Wood Johnson’s healthy communities resources, including:
  • Mapping Life Expectancy, a series of maps demonstrating the effect of zip codes on health
  • Zip Code and Life Expectancy Tool
• The Case for Healthy Places, Project for Public Spaces
• Towards More Physical Activity in Cities: Transforming Public Spaces to Promote Physical Activity, Gehl Institute
• Why Rural Brits Outlive Rural Americans, Ken Budd, City Lab