Speaking of excitement in urban revitalization

Ground floor demonstration kitchen, River Market, Little Rock, Arkansas. Photo by Damon Hoffman, Little Rock River Market.

Besides the (in my opinion not very attractive) William J. Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock Arkansas is an excellent example of two well-executed trends in successful urban revitalization: (1) the renovation or construction of new public markets; and (2) streetcar systems. In fact, Little Rock's River Market, which opened in 1996, is reached in part by the Little Rock Streetcar system, which is called River Rail.


And speaking of the kinds of suggestions offerred for a revitalized Florida Market area (see my written testimony on the Florida Market), one that I mentioned is a demonstration kitchen.

The River Market has two--one oriented to more in-depth teaching, on the 3rd floor, and a ground floor space more oriented to chef demonstrations and building excitement and links between buying food and how to prepare it.
Teaching Kitchen, River Market, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Damon Hoffman and Victoria Gross of the River Market were kind enough to send me some photos of their kitchens in use. (The Market is a division of the Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department, which is a good example of my point that Cultural Resources planning and management at the city level should include markets with other cultural resources organizations).
Photo by Jeff Jones. Central Arkansas Transit Authority. A streetcar crossing the Arkansas River along the Main Street Bridge. Currently it is a one-lane bridge for the streetcar.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization; transit; food-agriculture-markets