Reviving London, ON: The Role of the John Labatt Centre and Covent Garden Market by Meghan Bratt A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Planning Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2010 © Meghan Bratt 2010 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract Societal changes have changed the function and presence of downtowns over the years and a variety of strategies have been implemented in an effort to revitalize downtown cores. One of the most recent strategies employed has been using urban catalysts, such as stadiums and markets, to stimulate downtown revitalization. The primary purpose of this strategy is to create catalysts for further development and investment. This study examines the role the John Labatt Centre (JLC, a recent arena) and Covent Garden Market (a farmers market with a large range of permanent food retailing facilities) play in revitalizing Downtown London, Ontario. Within the last decade the City of London invested millions of dollars into rebuilding the Covent Garden Market and constructing the John Labatt Centre in the heart of London‘s downtown. The purpose of this research is to determine whether these venues act as catalysts for new development, and thus assess their spin-off effects. Data was collected by reviewing planning legislation, administering a survey to local business owners and interviewing key stakeholders. Findings show that the impact of the JLC and Market is unevenly distributed. The results provide insight on differences based on business type, and geographical location. Planning implications derived from the London, Ontario case study show that continued commitment from the public and politicians is the most important factor in downtown revitalization. Implementing urban catalysts helps to anchor downtown districts, by providing a destination. However, this strategy needs to be applied in conjunction with innovative ideas, such as a Main Street program and incentive programs (façade improvements, waiving development charges on residential buildings) that instill confidence in the private sector. iii Acknowledgements During my two years at the University of Waterloo, I received great support and guidance from many of my colleagues, friends, and family. There are many people who I must thank for helping me develop into the person I am today. First I would like to thank the following professors at the University of Waterloo for being there when I lacked focus and needed guidance. I would like to extend many thanks to my supervisor for my graduate thesis, Professor Pierre Filion. Thank you for sharing your expertise and proving me with invaluable feedback throughout the process. Thank you for working with me on this project, and sharing your knowledge as well as time. Professor Mark Seasons thank you for your words of support. I appreciate you helping me focus and keeping me on track (even if public embarrassment was the tactic). I thank you for providing me with lots of advice throughout my duration at Waterloo, whether it was thesis related or not. Thank you to Professor Laura Johnson for helping to solidify my survey, and discussing my methodology. Your advice was very helpful and greatly appreciated. Margo Hilbrecht thanks for support while I was in the early stages of formulating my thoughts in Research Methods 710. Thanks for showing interest in my topic and asking me questions that challenged me as a researcher. Thank you to all of the business owners who took the time to complete my surveys, and to those who participated in an interview. I learned a lot about the history of London and it was refreshing to see how much the community cares about downtown London. My thesis would not have been possible without the great support I received from the London community. Many thanks to my mom for always being there, and being my ‗on-call‘ research assistant. I cannot thank you enough and sincerely appreciate everything you have done for me over the years to help me get to this stage in my life. Thanks to my brother Alex for supporting me during this process. Thank you to Jane Russwurm for helping me put the final touches on my thesis. Many thanks to Dr. Jeff Lederer for being the reader on my thesis committee. To Kathleen Little – thank you for all of your kind words and always listening. Thanks for providing me with advice when I was ‗lost‘ or needed a fresh pair of eyes to help with my coding. To my friends both within and outside the University of Waterloo – I thank you for your words of encouragement, coffee study sessions and much needed distractions. Those moments are treasured. iv Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................. x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Background ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Downtown Decline and Revitalization ....................................................................... 2 1.1.3 Downtown Decline in Mid-sized Cities ...................................................................... 3 1.2 Study Rationale ................................................................................................................... 4 1.2.1 Understanding Urban Catalysts .................................................................................. 4 1.2.2 Rationale for the study ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Research Questions and Objectives .................................................................................... 5 1.4 Layout of Thesis ................................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 7 2.0 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Importance of Downtowns ................................................................................................. 7 2.2 Downtowns in Decline ....................................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Changing Retail Sector ............................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Decentralization .......................................................................................................... 9 2.2.3 Transformation in Transportation ............................................................................. 10 2.2.4 Suburban Sprawl ....................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Downtown Revitalization ................................................................................................. 10 2.4 Progression of Revitalization Efforts ................................................................................ 11 2.4.1 Urban Renewal ......................................................................................................... 11 2.4.2 Downtown Shopping Malls ...................................................................................... 12 2.4.3 Festival Marketplaces and Food Retailing ................................................................ 12 2.4.4 Main Street Program ................................................................................................. 13 2.4.5 Large-scale developments......................................................................................... 15 2.5 Urban Catalysts and Revitalization................................................................................... 16 2.5.1 The Role of Urban Catalysts ..................................................................................... 17 2.6 Types of Catalytic Projects ............................................................................................... 17 2.6.1 Sport Stadiums .......................................................................................................... 18 2.6.2 Convention Centres .................................................................................................. 18 2.6.3 Museums ................................................................................................................... 18 2.6.4 Farmers Markets ....................................................................................................... 19 2.7 Benefits of Sport Stadiums ............................................................................................... 20 2.7.1 The Economics of stadiums ...................................................................................... 20 2.7.2 Intangible Benefits of Sports Stadiums .................................................................... 22 2.8 Downtown Arenas in Ontario ..........................................................................................