We are thrilled to announce that second-year Meredith Wilson will be presenting at the Dynamic Cities Conference at Boston University in April. Her paper analyzes the current downtown revitalization efforts in Meridian, Mississippi as a case study for better understanding the use of preservation theories and practices in the revitalization of small-city downtowns.
ABSTRACT: Can the Center Hold?: Grappling with the decline of a small-city downtown, in Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian, Mississippi, is a poster child for the Post-War Era decline of America’s downtowns. The center city has been in steady decline since the rise of automobile culture and the opening of Meridian’s first suburban mall in the 1970s. The “white flight” endemic to many American cities has exacerbated the problem.
This study analyzes how a historic preservation ethic may better inform the economic development of a downtown with an emphasis on establishing best practices for other small American cities, where Meridian will serve as a case study. In focusing on a small, southern city, this paper fortifies a weak area in the study of preservation best practices related to downtown revitalization, which has focused on larger cities outside the Mid-South region. It examines the preservation policies within Meridian’s 2004 Downtown Redevelopment Plan, 2009 Comprehensive Plan, and other official city planning documents. It gauges the importance placed on preservation in city planning, as well as to what degree preservation policies are actually carried out.
Meridian’s revitalization efforts focus on large development projects devoted to entertainment and tourism: the restoration of the Grand Opera House, the upcoming redevelopment of an abandoned Art Deco office building into a hotel, and the construction of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center (MAEC), slated to open in 2017. While these first two projects are preservation-minded, the MAEC project has resulted in the demolition of the historic Hotel Meridian (1907). Collectively these projects ignore the traditional business and residential functions that truly anchor a historic downtown. This study examines the current success of these projects, and others in similar cities, to encourage sustainable development of the downtown core. Specifically, the study will suggest how historic preservation, incremental development, and diverse services and functions can improve downtown revitalization efforts in Meridian and comparable cities.