ABSTRACT
I.. Introduction Each of the six cities studied tied sports, entertainment, or arts and culture to a revitalization strategy. The obvious size, locational, and demographic differences between the communities did not substantially change the goals and hopes leadership had for the rebuilding efforts. Each city wanted to rebuild a deteriorating or stagnant part of its downtown area. Leaders in each city also recognized the need to attract and retain highly skilled workers to advance economic development, and a revitalized downtown was part of the effort to increase or extend a region’s attractiveness. Each of the cities looked to new amenities as tools to restore confidence in its downtown area as a place to visit, work, or live, and within the city. Leaders in each of the communities also wanted the new amenities to attract crowds to offset the impression that their downtown area had become a dangerous or uninviting place. In most of the cities, increasing racial and economic segregation between core
and suburban areas had also fostered prejudices and it was hoped that the new amenities could also initiate a process that would lead to more integration. The revitalization strategies for several of the cities were also designed to counter the view that economic restructuring had created a destiny of decline that could not be reversed.
