"Creating a personality for downtown": Business improvement districts in Milwaukee

This paper uses a case study of Business Improvement Districts in downtown Milwaukee to illustrate two key trends in contemporary urban revitalization. First, it highlights the ways in which the relationship between the public and private sectors continues to be reconfigured in the governance of cities. Second, it considers the roles of Business Improvement Districts in light of the current emphasis among urban policymakers and practitioners on delivering "cool" and "liveable" cities. I argue that Business Improvement Districts play a central role in overseeing the contemporary restructuring of urban space in many U.S. cities. Copyright © 2007 by V. H. Winston & Son, Inc. All rights reserved.