J Magazine Winter 2018

A paper by the Brookings Institution
defines innovation districts as “dense
enclaves that merge the innovation and
employment potential of research-oriented
anchor institutions, high-growth firms, and
tech and creative start-ups in well-designed,
amenity-rich residential and commercial
environments.”
Brookings said, “Innovation districts
facilitate the creation and commercialization
of new ideas and support metropolitan
economies by growing jobs in a way that
leverage their distinct economic attributes.
These districts build and revalue the intrinsic
qualities of cities: proximity, density,
authenticity and vibrant spaces.”
An innovation district can attract
businesses into a downtown area and also
make it a more desirable place for people
to live and work. In Jacksonville, it is seen
as something that would help revitalize
Downtown while also making the area safer
and more popular. The hope is that the city
can attract tech businesses and companies
that do cutting-edge research or technology
while attracting mixed-use development like
apartments, restaurants and office space in a
way that would make the Bay Street area one
of the crown jewels of Downtown.
“It fits into everything we’re doing
Downtown,” said Brian Hughes, chief of
staff to Mayor Lenny Curry and interim CEO
of the Downtown Investment Authority.
“An innovation district helps us to build
something new at the Landing, redevelop
the Shipyards and attract a lot of other
cutting-edge businesses to town.”
Hughes said it also would allow the
city to have a really good corridor from the
Prime Osborn Convention Center all the
way to the TIAA Bank Field where people
will want to work, live and visit.
Multiple local organizations are involved
in trying to develop this corridor, including
the City of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville
Transportation Authority, the North Florida
Transportation Planning Organization, JEA
and JAX Chamber.
The three components of the proposed
innovation corridor are a reworking and
expansion of the Skyway system, a “smart
city” plan and the innovation district itself.
ACTIVATING the Skyway
JTA is pushing an Ultimate Urban
Circulator, or U2C, which involves
autonomous cars that would run on the
current and an expanded Skyway, which
would go down to street level.
“The Bay Street Innovation Corridor will
implement initial elements of the Skyway
conversion and expansion called the
“The most
effective smart
cities find ways
to preserve and
enhance citizens’
lives. Smart cities
have empowered
individuals to
work collectively
towards common
values.”
JASON POMEROY
ARCHITECT, AUTHOR
AND PROFESSOR
Ultimate Urban Circulator Program,” said
JTA spokeswoman Leigh Ann Rassler. “The
corridor will incorporate technology and
Smart City innovations to support economic
development and enhance mobility for the
citizens of Jacksonville.”
The area that the Skyway system
travels would increase from 2.5 miles to
about 10 miles, reaching more Downtown
neighborhoods and gradually TIAA Bank
Field, central San Marco, Five Points in
Riverside and beyond.
BECOMING A ‘smart city’
The key to being a “smart city” is
connection, said Jason Pomeroy, an architect,
author, professor and host of Channel
NewsAsia’s “Smart Cities 2.0,” who has built
ecology-friendly houses in Southeast Asia: “It
isn’t all about driverless cars, the Internet of
Things and other buzzwords.
“The most effective smart cities find ways
to preserve and enhance citizens’ lives. Smart
cities have empowered individuals to work
collectively toward common values held
by the city, such as energy efficiency, job
creation, waste management and more. They
often embrace technology and society’s use
(of) and buy-in to these common values as a
facilitator.
“I also believe that truly smart cities
acknowledge and seek to preserve culture,
heritage and tradition … Finally, the notion of
a smart city will only be acceptable as long as
it comes from the bottom up as well as topdown.
The solution to the city’s problems
needs to be provided by a collaboration
between the citizens, private companies,
government and academia, not imposed on
them by elites.”
Smart cities are environmentally friendly
with working public transit and technological
innovation, Pomeroy said.
In Jacksonville, the North Florida
Transportation Planning Organization is
pushing the “smart city master plan.” Sensors
and improved lighting would be deployed on
the street to make the area safer via increased
visibility and the ability to detect things like
gunshots. Those sensors also could detect
pedestrians crossing the street and incoming
trains and switch traffic lights from green to
red to keep people safe.
This only works if a centralized database
collects all the data, which is what the TPO is
proposing.
TPO executive director Jeff Sheffield
declined to comment for this story and said
through a spokesperson he preferred to wait
until the project was further along to discuss it.
Technology innovation
The creation of innovation districts is
relatively new. The first ones occurred in cities
like Boston and Barcelona, and they are now
being done all over the world.
Roughly modeled on Silicon Valley, the
essential idea is that an area will be set up to
cluster entrepreneurs, startup businesses,
business accelerators and incubators in a way
that encourages collaboration and the sharing
of knowledge. The areas are supposed to be
easily reachable by public transit, have Wi-Fi
and be zoned for mixed use development
so that apartments, restaurants and other
amenities exist that attract people to the area.
In a lecture on innovation districts, Bruce
Katz, the Centennial Scholar at the Brookings
Institution, said the geography of innovation
is shifting, and that can benefit cities looking
for revitalization.
Until recently, innovation occurred in
places like Silicon Valley or in industrial
districts or isolated corporate campuses that
were accessible only by car and didn’t have
places nearby where people could work or
socialize, Katz said.
But businesses no longer want to be
based in those places, and people want to live
closer to where they work, making downtown
innovation districts appealing for innovative
companies and their employees, Katz said.
WINTER 2018-19 | J MAGAZINE 79