ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the steps leading up to what became a cascade of redevelopment in the city of Kent and compares the city and university offer about whom to credit. It considers the implications of a simple, versus complex, narrative of urban change. Redevelopment in cities is not merely a twentieth- or twenty-first-century phenomenon, of course, nor is it limited to American soil. Urban renewal has transformed the landscapes of hundreds of cities large and small in the United States and has spurred a great deal of research focused on the social impacts of redevelopment. In 2008, construction began on a small new retail venue in downtown Kent. Like many small towns, Kent had already seen its share of small revitalization projects. A local entrepreneur, Ron Burbick, bought the properties surrounding the old Franklin Hotel, demolished the less desirable buildings and restored the facades of historic brick buildings on Main Street.
