BBC Viewpoint January 2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

BBC VIEWPOINT • January 2003 • BBC Reeearch & Coneulting Page 7 �y 4 Sustainability: Less is more? We admit to some initial skepticism when the term "com- munity sustainability" began surfacing in resort towns throughout the West. We had already watched eco- tourism, smart growth, new urbanism and an array of other recipes for community reinvention roll through the local landscape, with notably modest success. But hope springs eternal, and certainly business as usual doesn't seem to be serving mountain resorts well, as eco- nomic doldrums, airline uncer- tainties, real estate sprawl and a fickle tourism market take their collective toll. The sustainability effort really began on a small scale, with individuals and a few businesses looking to operate on a less con- sumptive basis. It began with a few very basic questions: do we have to consume all this land? Does it really have to look like this? Do we have to use so much energy, or consume so many resources? In most instances, this process meant a few individuals demonstrating how more could be achieved by using less. The City of Aspen, with its innova- tive energy tax and the Aspen Skiing Company, which built a largely recycled mountain lodge, were early leaders in taking this `'act locally think globally" strat- egy to a larger scale. But the broader question remained: can sustainability underlie an entire community's social, regulatory and economic systems? Can a commitment to ecological preservation differen- tiate a resort, especially those communities seemingly devoted to the care, feeding and pampering of finicky tourists? With the help of BBC and a team of planning, ecological and community organization experts, the Resort Municipal- ity of Whistler, British Colum- bia is taking on this challenge and attempting to replace its community plan with a com- prehensive sustainability plan offering an ecologically based framework from which all com- munity planning and develop- ment decisions will be anchored. The first test may be British Columbia's bid for the 2008 Winter Olympics with ti' . b Whistler offering an environ- mentally based plan for support- ing the games along with an expressed willingness to say no to some of the standard Olympic excesses. Less is more? We'll have to wait and see, but Whistler deserves accolades for trying, and for having the courage to take the most success- ful winter resort in North Amer- ica, still at the top of its game, in an entirely new direction. In 2002, Ford Frick was involved with the community of Whistler as well as a number of other public and private efforts at defining new strategies for economic success in the ever challenging resort marketplace. Dallas' Fair Park — Crown Jewel or Municipal Warehouse? Five museums, and one of the most successful concert venues in the county? How about the home of the Dallas Opera? What's missing from Fair Park? Well, a park for one thing, but we're getting ahead of our- selves. Many cities, and many compa- nies for that matter, have odd collections of assets for which they try to find better purpose. But Fair Park offers a warehouse of eclectic opportunities on a Dallas' 277 -acre Fair Park may hold the oddest collection of cul- tural assets assembled at any one site in any city in America. For three weeks each September, Fair Park hosts 3.5 million visitors for the "it could only happen in Texas State Fair," complete with Corny Dogs, thrill rides, midway huchsters and exemplary prize winning pigs. In the middle of the park lies the aging but beloved Cotton Bowl, home to 70,000 rabid fans during the annual Texas -OU game, but sadly little else during the remainder of the year. Oddly juxtaposed with the Cotton Bowl is the finest collection of Bauhaus public buildings in the world, complete with iconic stat- uary, arching fountains and extraordinary Art Deco plazas. These otherworldly remnants of the 1932 World's Exposition are also largely unused and unappre- ciated — too valuable to remove, too expensive to maintain and too single - purpose to be f inc- tional. Did we mention the improba- ble collection of steam engine trains stored behind a metal fence? The decaying aquarium? scale that could only happen in Texas. For assistance in reposi- tioning and master planning Fair Park, the City of Dallas completed a nation -wide search and turned to a planning team led by San Francisco -based Har- greaves Associates with BBC responsible for financial, market and governance strategies. Our challenge? Define what this place is and what it might become. Try to find the eco- nomic synergy between these uses. Identify how the State Fair can grow and prosper without running roughshod over the other cultural institutions. Find a purpose for the historic struc- tures that ensures preservation and protection, but also eco- nomic relevancy. Energize Fair Park. Finally, develop a gover- nance structure and funding mechanism that supports Park stewardship and rewards entre- preneurial efforts. No small tasks these. It will be nearly a year before the plan is complete, but in the interim, next time you're in Dallas make an effort to get out to Fair Park. It's worth seeing now and it will only get better. In 2002, Ford Frick and Jim Carpenter provided a diverse collection of clients, ranging from the City of Dallas to Catellus Development Com- pany, with strategic planning, project feasibility analysis and market research related to real estate development and posi- tioning. 0pening the Blinds to Reveal New Markets Hunter Douglas Group's Win- dow Coverings Division is the world leader in the window fash- ion industry. To maintain this position, the company's corpo- rate strategy is to "grow the market, and market share, by continuing to introduce state -of- the -art, innovative products." For the past several years, BBC has helped Hunter Douglas mar- keters, engineers and managers ensure that new products are not only state -of -the -art and innova- tive, but appealing to designers and retailers as well. Developing and launching new products requires signifi- cant investments of time and money. New ideas must have sufficient market potential to justify the investment. Qualita- tive research with retailers, inte- rior designers and consumers throughout the product develop- ment process assists the product team in understanding how key audiences perceive new ideas. Will this new product idea be widely accepted in the market- place, or does it fill a small niche? Is the new idea aestheti- cally pleasing? Are the mechan- ics of opening and closing a new blind intuitive? Understanding these and other important ques- tions are critical throughout the innovation process. BBC's high quality recruiting, facilitation and analysis combined with our targeted, insightful reports helps our clients in the Window Cov- erings Division get the answers they need to grow new markets and expand their market share. Joni Toenjes andJen Garner lead BBC's market research projects for Hunter Douglas and a host of other private sec- tor clients.