REFERENCES
1. Martin Prosperity Institute. Ontario in the Creative Age; February 2009.
2. Martin Prosperity Institute. Brantford’s 3Ts Reference Report—Benchmarking Project: Ontario Competes; April 2009.
3. Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. Places To Grow- Size and Location of Urban Growth Centres in the Greater Golden Horseshoe; 2008.
4. Urban Strategies Inc. and IBI Group. Towards a Stronger Future: A Master Plan for Downtown Brantford; 2008.
the City’s grants program. Since 2002 the City of Brantford has provided $4 million in grants funding, resulting in over $21 million in private sector investment in 22 projects. As downtown stabilizes, the focus now is to attract the businesses that will contribute to the vibrancy of downtown. For example, a recent grant assisted a major architectural firm to relocate to Brantford and renovate a downtown build- ing as their new office.
Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan area with assigned density targets signaled the impor- tance of downtown Brantford among the communities of the Toronto region. The City moved to implement the legislation through a five-year Official Plan Review and Official Plan Amendment. The City also began a Downtown Master Plan in 2007. The Growth Plan emphasized downtown as the place where investment and services are to be focused. Downtown’s character as a complete community, where people can walk to services and use transit to get around, gained new credence as an appro- priate response to sprawl. Superimposed onto the ugc boundaries, wlu has estab- lished its “Academic District”. The combination of mandated higher employ- ment/residential density and the concentration of post-secondary institutions in the downtown have the potential to cre- ate a new and dynamic downtown culture.
DOWNTOWN MASTER PLAN 24
A Downtown Action Committee (dac) was created in 2005 as a working group com- posed of municipal staff, post-secondary institutions and the Business Improvement Area (bia). Originally responsible for devel- oping the Downtown Master Plan, the committee is now the plan implementer. This form of interdisciplinary teamwork has worked well with a total of eight proj- ects recommended in the Downtown Master Plan moving forward in 2009. In 2008 Council approved the Downtown Master Plan,4
which was recognized by
oppi with a 2009 Award for Planning Excellence.
DOWNTOWN GRANTS PROGRAM
Attracting creative businesses to down- town will increasingly become the focus of
DOWNTOWN CULTURAL DISTRICT
Richard Florida and others have identi-
fied how artists have been in the vanguard of urban revitalization. Within that frame- work, Council approved the Brantford Cultural Plan in 2005. The plan advocated the creation of a downtown cultural dis- trict. Projects like the Brantford Arts Block are important initiatives, bringing artists downtown to create, teach and promote cultural activity. As the post-secondary institutions expand, they will bring new cultural programs and institutions to the downtown.
CONCLUSION - CAPITALIZING ON A CREATIVE DOWNTOWN
Brantford’s downtown revitalization strat- egy has embraced the emerging creative economy. Judicious municipal investments
in post-secondary institutions, a visionary Downtown Plan, and making the connec- tion between attracting creative workers and increased density (creative density), will quicken downtown Brantford’s partici- pation in the creative economy. The presence of three post-secondary institu- tions will increase educational levels in Brantford, boost “talent indicators” by increasing educational attainment, and encourage an overall increase in Brantford’s Creativity Index. The reuse of a downtown core as a civic and academic district is a bold regeneration strategy. Concentrating these creative workers and balancing “town and gown” land uses will be an exciting challenge for the future. ■
MARK GLADYSZ, MCIP, is a Senior Policy Planner with the City of Brantford. He is responsible for overseeing the implemen- tation of the Downtown Master Plan and coordination with the post-secondary insti- tutions. He can be reached at: mgladysz@
brantford.ca
Planning + Urban Design Walker, Nott, Dragicevic
Associates Limited
90 Eglinton Avenue East Suite 701 Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3
t: 416.968.3511 f: 416.960.0172
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