OKC MAPS PROJECTS – 25 YEARS
Introduction Oklahoma City recently marked 25 years of public capital improvement projects funded through the ongoing MAPS initiatives. The MAPS projects addressed needs in transportation, education, recreation, entertainment, arts and culture, public space and lifestyle amenities. The resulting change in the city during the MAPS era has been substantial and transformative. Why MAPS? The current activity level in downtown Oklahoma City leaves few reminders of the conditions present in the pre-MAPS era. Downtown had settled into stagnation and then entered decline in the decade following the Oil Bust of the early 1980s. When MAPS was first proposed in the early 1990s, no catalyst capable of propelling economic renewal in downtown Oklahoma City was visible. Downtown’s condition reflected decades of insufficient public and private investment. Private housing, retail and office development migrated outside the city’s central core into other markets across the city. 1 At 620 square miles, the sheer size of the city’s footprint allowed for seemingly unlimited and inexpensive growth in suburban areas and other rural markets. 2 Oklahoma City had joined a group of mid-sized cities across the United States experiencing robust growth in the suburbs while the central city withered away. More importantly, it was losing ground to competing cities as a modern business hub. Economic and demographic trends were also working against the city’s competitive posture as a regional business hub. The most vibrant and desirable cities to live in were increasingly urban. Workers, particularly the young and educated, were seeking urban areas with a strong job market, a range of lifestyle amenities, and sufficient public services. The continued decline of downtown Oklahoma City presented an immense hurdle for efforts to develop a nationally competitive urban economy. As a result, expectations were guarded over whether MAPS could trigger the revitalization of downtown. Public Investment as an Economic Development Strategy . Building a complete city would require the revitalization of downtown, and public investments through MAPS were viewed as the tool that could jumpstart the process. Oklahoma City leaders believed that the effects of insufficient public investment downtown could be reversed over time through the targeted MAPS initiatives. Renewed public investment would in turn spur private investment in a joint effort to revitalize downtown. A vibrant downtown area would then serve as the hub of a much more vibrant, livable, and competitive Oklahoma City metropolitan area. In describing the process of balancing growth on the periphery of the city with a strong central core, comparisons were made to fast-growing Phoenix, another city with a large footprint (516 square miles) but a much more vibrant central core. As Oklahoma City councilman David Greenwell described the process, “They show you can embrace both a sprawling city and maintaining a focus on developing your downtown core. And the two do not conflict.” The MAPS initiatives followed the increasingly important economic development strategy of placemaking , or the process of developing a city in which residents want to live, work, and play. This approach acts as both a retention mechanism for current businesses and residents while attracting others from outside the region. The objective for downtown called for the weaving together of an expanded business and employment presence, a vibrant residential community, expanded retail and services options, medical and education facilities, and a range of cultural, recreational, and
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