This report describes and analyzes the role of amenities in urban economic development strategies. The purpose of the report is to help policymakers and civic leaders in the public and private sectors to create and carry out city improvement strategies that link quality-of-life and economic development objectives.

Part 1 describes important national economic and demographic changes and discusses their implications for urban economic development. It concludes that a city's quality of life and the amenities it offers have become increasingly important for its development opportunities.

Part 2 surveys the efforts that a number of cities have undertaken to employ amenities in their economic development programs. It describes briefly the strategic objectives of these programs and provides detailed examples of how amenity assets such as high-quality design, public open space, cultural facilities and activities, and natural and scenic resources can contribute to economic development. The separate and collaborative roles of government, business, and institutions in the nonprofit sector are described, and special attention is given to the importance of the image of the city.

Building on the experience presented in Part 2, Part 3 addresses more systematically the subject of competitive advantage, the reasons for the increasing importance of quality of life for urban economic development, the roles that amenities can play in a city's economic development program, and the elements of a strategy for effectively linking amenities and development.

Finally, the main conclusions of the report are summarized briefly. The value of this report rests on the experience of the cities whose efforts give it substance. These cities have shown that they have what must seem to some people a surprising potential for economic vitality. They are demonstrating that the diversity and distinctiveness of America's cities are strengths and that by building on their special characteristics cities not only respond to people's need for a place of their own but also enhance their development potential.

The efforts of the civic leaders in these ground-breaking cities have shown how amenities make direct, important contributions to economic development as well as to the quality of life for city residents. In the process, they have also demonstrated that the quality of a city's leadership, the effectiveness of its public and private institutions, and their ability to collaborate - in sum, a city's civic assets - may well be the factor that separates the successful from the unsuccessful cities.

It is hoped that other cities can undertake similar efforts with greater ease and be even more successful as a result of the experience communicated through this report.

CONTENTS
Advisory Panel and acknowledgments.
Preface.
Introduction.

Part I. Problems and opportunities:

America's cities: Decline or renaissance?
Economic and social change in urban opportunities.
Cities and the forces of change.
Megatrends: positive or negative for cities?
Implications for action.

Part II. Amenity assets and civic action:

Chapter 1. Economic development in cities today.

City profiles.
Adaptive use: an economic development tool.
Place as an amenity.

Chapter 2. Amenity assets and urban economic development.

Animation: Breathing life into the city.
Design quality: Public and private profit.
Cultural resources: What are the arts worth?
Natural and scenic resources: Nature in the city.
Tourism: Marketing hidden assets.
Neighborhoods: Developing the whole city.

Chapter 3. Civic action.

Sorting out the sectors.
City government.
Business.
The third sector.
Public: public partnerships.
Initiating new civic ventures.

Chapter 4. The importance of image.

The meaning and value of image.
Image and economic development.
Civic ownership.
The worth of awards.
Project promotion.
Image and action.

Part III. Formulating an amenity development strategy:

Competitive advantage.
The increasing significance of quality of life in business investment decisions.
The role of amenities in urban economic development.
Elements of an amenity development strategy.

Conclusion.
Notes.
Resources.

This report describes and analyzes the role of amenities in urban economic development strategies. The purpose of the report is to help policymakers and civic leaders in the public and private sectors to create and carry out city improvement strategies that link quality-of-life and economic development objectives.