City Forward: How Innovation Districts Can Embrace Risk and Strengthen Community

Innovation districts and anchor institutions, such as hospitals, universities, and technology hubs, are celebrated for their ability to drive economic growth and employment opportunities. However, the benefits often fail to reach the very neighborhoods they are built in. Matt Enstice, CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC), took a different approach by supporting entrepreneurship training programs, mentorship for community members, creating a community garden, bringing together diverse groups to explore transportation solutions, and more. BNMC works to promote a shared goal of equity among companies and institutions with often opposing motivations and intentions. City Forward offers twelve strategies that innovation districts can harness to weave equity into their core work, such as actively creating opportunities to listen to the community, navigating compromise, and recruiting new partners. The book also offers insight about how innovation districts can speak about equity in an inclusive manner and keep underrepresented and historically excluded voices at the decision-making table.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2022
Publisher: Island Press

Innovation districts and anchor institutions, such as hospitals, universities, and technology hubs, are celebrated for their ability to drive economic growth and employment opportunities. However, the benefits often fail to reach the very neighborhoods they are built in. As CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC), Matt Enstice took a different approach. Under Matt's leadership, BNMC has supported entrepreneurship training programs and mentorship for community members, the creation of a community garden, bringing together diverse groups to explore transportation solutions, and more. Fostering participation and collaboration among neighborhood leaders, foundations, and other organizations ensures that the interests of Buffalo residents are represented. Together, these groups are creating a new model for reenergizing Buffalo, a model that has applications across the United States and around the world.

City Forward explains how BNMC works to promote a shared goal of equity among companies and institutions with often opposing motivations and intentions. When money or time is scarce, how can equitable community building remain a common priority? When interests conflict, and an institution's expansion depends upon parking or development that would infringe upon public space, how can the decision-making process maintain trust and collaboration? Offering a candid look at BNMC's setbacks and successes, along with efforts from other institutions nationwide, Enstice shares twelve strategies that innovation districts can harness to weave equity into their core work. From actively creating opportunities to listen to the community to navigating compromise to recruiting new partners, the book reveals unique opportunities available to create decisive large-scale change. Critically, Enstice also offers a roadmap for how innovation districts can overcome the challenges they face and create a more equitable and sustainable future.

In conclusion, Innovation Districts and Anchor Institutions have the potential to drive economic growth and create employment opportunities, but they often fail to reach the communities they are built in. BNMC's approach of fostering participation and collaboration among neighborhood leaders, foundations, and other organizations is a promising model for reenergizing Buffalo and creating a more equitable and sustainable future. By harnessing the twelve strategies outlined in Enstice's book, innovation districts can create decisive large-scale change and overcome the challenges they face.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781642831764