Matt Peters
map006@marietta.edu
The first of five Leadership Fellows discussions was held on Wednesday, Nov. 11. A small group of students sat down with faculty members to discuss the topic of city revitalization, focusing especially on downtown Marietta.
Leading the discussion was Dr. Thomas LaSalvia, assistant professor of business and economics, whose primary research interest is urban economics.
LaSalvia explained that most U.S. cities began as either “transportation or resource hubs.” Then, in the late 1800s/early 1900s, the growth of manufacturing jobs led to rapid population increases in most cities. Unfortunately, by the late 1900s, the manufacturing industry had crashed, driving many people out of cities and into the suburbs. However, LaSalvia says in recent years, we have begun to see a slight rebound in city population growth.
“Today, there’s a revival of some cities and some downtowns and other cities are completely lacking where there’s still completely crime-filled, hollowed-out, vacant buildings – just lots of unpleasantness,” he explained. “So, I guess the question really is, how do we go about reviving? How do we think about these cities as being valuable places?”
LaSalvia says the problem often boils down to what he calls a “critical mass issue.”
“Whenever you hear me talking about reviving cities, you’re always going to hear me come back to this idea of a critical mass,” he said. “Cities work on a particular level of consistent energy.”
He explained that the downtown area is a crucial part of this critical mass.
“The reason you want to move downtown, most likely, is because there is life. There is activity – there is something there,” he said. “[What] the problem has been, is that the downtowns have been lacking. Because of what we saw in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, with the people all moving out of the cities.”
LaSalvia says that, during this time, even urban-lovers flocked to the suburbs, fearing that a city life was simply no longer feasible. While younger generations seem to have a renewed love for cities, others still question their practicality.
Sophomore Martin Hall commented, “I think a lot of the incentive to not live in the city is the price of living. Even to just own a car in the city… being able to park and drive different places, that’s a much higher cost to maintain that in the city than anywhere else.”
Hall added that not only is urban living more expensive, it can also be inhibiting.
“When you look at a city life, it limits your scope – as far as where you can go – because your housing is higher, the gas is higher. Everything is more expensive,” he said.
Still, others would argue that for some people, the benefits of urban living outweigh the costs.
“For different types of individuals, at different points in their life or in their career, there might be that value to make that trade-off for their cost of living; whether it’s for leisure pursuits… or for your career pursuits. It might be more valuable to be, say at a moment’s notice, ready to go tackle this story, or go to find an interview, or possibly have higher opportunity to network with people in a particular city,” LaSalvia said.
LaSalvia says he believes people should have the option to live wherever they see fit, and it is important that urban living continues to be one of those options.
“I like to think that a very large variety of different types of locations, different types of neighborhoods: suburban environments, urban environments, rural environments can only be beneficial because it will allow everyone to use their own cost-benefit analysis to place them in the proper spot,” he said. “So, when I look at why I would want to try and revive a city, or why I would want to try and help downtown Marietta revive, it’s to give the people of this area that option – to give any of the urban-lovers that want that type of lifestyle that option to be there.”
He added that the success of new privately-owned restaurants such as Jeremiah’s Coffee House and Emmanuel’s Bakery & Diner in downtown Marietta could be potential indicators of an impending downtown revival. Others are hopeful that the recently re-opened Colony Theatre, now known as People’s Bank Theatre will become a major entertainment draw.
Still, LaSalvia says, in order for the city to experience a downtown revival, there must be a larger “residential presence” in the downtown area.
“People will only want to be in this urban environment if there’s other people,” LaSalvia said.
