We’re excited to introduce the award-winning New Haven Neighborhood Commercial Districts Playbook! Announced at the CMSC Summit last week and covered by WTNH, this project showcases a place-based approach to strengthening New Haven’s neighborhoods through thoughtful design and economic opportunity.
The Neighborhood Commercial Districts Playbook was created through a collaborative effort between Pirie Associates, Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC), BJH Advisors, and New Haven’s Office of Economic Development Administration (EDA).
The team evaluated each Neighborhood Commercial District (NCD) and developed a framework to help neighborhoods and the city work together to strengthen economic and place-based vitality.
The guiding principle of this initiative is simple and powerful: Meet each neighborhood where they are and work together to move all forward.
Community members make note of their aspirations at a Community Engagement Meeting for Kimberly Square. Image: New Haven EDA
The Playbook serves as a comprehensive roadmap for realizing the potential of New Haven’s NCDs. Drawing from local culture and built environment characteristics, national best practices, and the Main Street America management approach, the Playbook aims to direct a variety of city resources to support the vitality, sense of place, and economic development of under-resourced neighborhoods. As well, Playbook strategies foster development of local resident leadership teams and streamline access to municipal resources and support.
Core Values of the NCD Playbook
- Neighborhoods are not only places; they are people.
A successful NCD is not just defined by its physical space, but by the relationships and interactions it supports. Benefits of revitalization must flow to the people who live and work there. - Build engagement, accountability, and empowerment through the clarity of commitment.
The Playbook promotes a bilateral approach: the city lays a strong foundation of guidance and resources while community and business leaders implement and manage growth. - Elevate all NCDs while recognizing that each is unique.
Each neighborhood varies in character, resources, and maturity. The Playbook addresses disparities through a tailored approach that begins with each community’s current capacity and helps it realize its full potential.
Playbook Development Methodology
We developed the NCD Playbook through a multi-disciplinary process that combined research with stakeholder engagement:
Analysis of Place, Capacity, and Management
As part of the analysis phase, engagement began with interviews and walking tours with community stakeholders in 14 neighborhoods across the city. The CMSC Assessment Tool was essential to understand the current state of each neighborhood and their strengths and weaknesses. Using more than 85 data points, the CMSC Assessment Tool allowed us to see where each neighborhood was performing well, needed support, and where common patterns emerged across neighborhoods.
MARKET SCAN & BEST PRACTICES MODELING
BJH Advisors conducted a citywide analysis of market conditions. This included a comprehensive field scan including existing commercial activity and key performance indicators, as well as hyper local, local, and regional market draw. In addition, we examined best practices from Berkeley, CA to Boston, MA to create a right-fit model to guide the city’s internal management and implementation.
Defining Typologies & CAPACITY
Through our analysis, we saw common physical characteristics and operational needs. To make the support process more effective, we grouped all 20+ NCDs by type and capacity.
The typologies, Main Street, Pocket Hub, and Connecting Boulevard, group NCDs by physical character, scale, and qualitative aspects around sense of place.
1. Main Street
Main Streets are pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use retail areas with continuous or historic building fabric that serve the daily needs of the neighborhood. They offer plentiful and diverse retail opportunities, including restaurants and unique businesses that attract a wider market.
GRAND AVENUE; Main Street case study to create a pedestrian-friendly retail and entertainment corridor celebrating Fair Haven’s multicultural community and strengthening its connection to the Quinnipiac River. Image: Pirie Associates
2. Pocket Hub
Pocket Hubs are smaller, walkable commercial centers that retain some historic building fabric and include limited retail or service uses. Businesses are primarily convenience-oriented, serving the everyday needs of nearby residents, and their market areas are generally limited to the immediate neighborhood.
KIMBERLY NEIGHBORHOOD; Pocket Hub case study to create a lively mixed-use “necklace” of public spaces celebrating the neighborhood’s multicultural heritage with a pedestrian esplanade linking the district to City Point and the harbor. Image: Pirie Associates.
3. Connecting Boulevard
Connecting Boulevards are wide, car-centric corridors characterized by heavy through-traffic, discontinuous building fabric, and challenging pedestrian environments. They serve multiple neighborhoods and may attract regional activity through large-format retail.
DIXWELL AVENUE; Connecting Boulevard case study envisioned as a safe and walkable mixed-use neighborhood that links communities from New Haven to Hamden, connecting residents to amenities and educational opportunities. Image: Pirie Associates.
In addition to defining each NCD’s type, we further grouped the capacity of each NCD, largely informed by their self-management ability. This will allow the city and the neighborhood to identify what resources are most needed to advance the capacity of each NCD.
- Performing NCD: District with high-functioning management teams and activation
- Progressing NCD: Districts with active growth and a developing management organization
- Promising NCD: Districts with emerging potential that need assistance identifying a vision and implementing an operational strategy
Example of typical expected funding at each NCD capacity level from the NCD Playbook
Translating Vision to Action
The Playbook’s proposed organizational framework promotes collaboration across departments and establishes clear lines of communication and accountability.
Under this model, Performing, Progressing, and Promising NCDs would be supported by CMSC, a city NCD Coordinator, and an NCD Advisory Group. Together, these partners work in concert with the City’s EDA to coordinate technical support and funding resources.
Example of a proposed organizational model from the NCD Playbook
Successful implementation of the Playbook and its smooth operation are reliant on the engagement of multiple city departments because NCDs must address many factors like maintenance, social services, branding, and/or safety. This horizontal coordination between departments is crucial to de-silo city operations. The result is a more responsive and transparent system for advancing neighborhood goals.
What’s Next?
Since the completion of the Playbook, the City of New Haven continues to honor the individuality of its neighborhoods while providing a shared structure for growth with its NCD Initiative.
The Initiative consists of three interconnected tools:
- The NCD Playbook as strategic framework and guide
- Membership support from the Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC) providing training, mentorship, and guidance to neighborhood organizations
- The NCD Visualizations Handbook, a visual inspiration tool that helps communities imagine their future potential
And this initiative is showing how a city can harness its unique neighborhoods' strengths to make a difference with real and lasting change. Kimberly, Grand Ave and additional NCD efforts have already led to securing substantial funding- $35 million in grants- to support development, highlighting the impact of coordination between the municipality, stakeholders, and the community.
A brief overview of NCD efforts happening in the city right now:
- “Grander” Grand Avenue; The city is enhancing public safety and traffic, supporting economic growth, and create a cohesive, pedestrian-friendly corridor from downtown to the Quinnipiac River, reflecting Fair Haven’s diverse neighborhoods.
- Mills to Hills; Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith and local advocates envision transforming underpass “dead space” into a multi-use, multi-generational park with public art and a safe pedestrian route for school children.
- Dixwell Connection; Community engagement sessions are underway to discuss reviving Dixwell Avenue’s vibrancy. While grants will fund traffic calming and streetscape improvements; other ideas proposed include bike lanes, planters, benches, and enhanced lighting.
New Haven anticipates that the initiative will continue to grow, with additional NCDs being established beyond those identified in our initial analysis. The NCD Playbook is an aspirational yet practical guide ensuring that every community, no matter its starting point, has a path forward toward a vibrant, equitable, and resilient future.
For Pirie Associates, this experience and outcome represent the core of our practice: to create places on purpose – in collaboration with and drawn from the community itself - where the living system of culture, built and natural environments, belonging, and sustainability merge to make places that thrive now and into the future.
