Final Progress Advisory Panel Report - Knight Program in ...

Executive Summary
In October 2011, Duluth city leaders, downtown businesses, and
community organizations joined together to convene a mid-course
review of progress in achieving the guiding principles and recommendations
from its 2005 charrette. The review was sponsored by
the City of Duluth, Duluth Local Initiatives Support Corporation
(Duluth LISC), the Greater Downtown Council, and the University
of Miami School of Architecture.
The 2005 Charrette
The charrette (an intensive, week-long public design workshop)
enabled the 1,000-plus citizens, business leaders, and city officials
who participated to reach agreement on a vision and plan that
would help facilitate the revitalization of Duluth’s East Downtown
and the adjacent Hillside and Waterfront neighborhoods.
They also agreed on 10 overarching principles to guide redevelopment.
The principles and charrette plan recommendations provided
a blueprint for enabling new development that sensitively
blends into and enhances the community’s character and sense of
place. The charrette ended with establishing a Charrette Stewardship
Group to coordinate implementation of the charrette plan.
That decision, coupled with strong city leadership, led to the remarkable
progress since 2005. The Charrette Stewardship Group,
working with Duluth Mayor Don Ness, has continued to track and
benchmark progress since the charrette and initiated the progress
advisory review as well as the creation of a Charrette Update
Committee.
The Progress Review
To receive the best advice possible, the progress review sponsors
turned to the University of Miami team that spearheaded the 2005
charrette through the Knight Program in Community Building
to assemble a panel of national experts to lead the review. Panel
members came from different parts of the country and brought
different areas of expertise and experience to the review process.
“The 2005 charrette enabled us to
think big about our community and its
downtown, neighborhoods, and waterfront.
What has happened in the last six years
since the charrette has put Duluth well on
the way to becoming one of the best places
to live in and visit in the country. It is
now only a question of how far and fast
we can go. The Progress Advisory Panel
enabled us to appreciate how much we
have done and be strategic about our next
chapter.”
Don Ness, Mayor, City of Duluth
Progress Advisory Panel members met with Duluth Mayor Don
Ness and participants in the Duluth Progress Review Resource
Group to report on progress and offer ideas for strategic next
steps to advance the charrette vision and guiding principles.
The 2005 Duluth
Charrette Principles
1. Boost Duluth
2. Evoke a sense of place
3. Foster public safety
4. Preserve and enhance heritage resources
5. Invest in the public realm
6. Establish and restore the unique urban
ecology of the city’s neighborhoods,
districts, corridors, and downtown
7. Calm traffic and improve connectivity
8. Broaden the mix of uses
9. Expand housing opportunities for
people from all walks of life to live
downtown
10. Improve the regulatory framework
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