Community & Regional Stewardship
Goal Statement: “Building a highly-attractive quality of place is central to Blueprint Birmingham. In order to develop a more attractive region for existing and future residents and businesses, we will support improvements in physical infrastructure, affordable public transportation, public safety, environmental quality, entertainment options, and cultural amenities.”
Quality of place is critical to the location decisions of families. It is also factoring into corporate relocation more so than ever before. The diversity and quality of entertainment options, recreational, and cultural amenities, and the ease with which residents can access such amenities have a strong impact on these location decisions. In addition to talent, physical infrastructure heavily impacts business location decisions as companies seek locations where they can efficiently transport goods to multiple markets and where their workers can reach key business travel destinations affordably.
Blueprint Birmingham highlights several challenges in the Birmingham region in regards to the quality of place. Those challenges include but are not limited to:
- Perceptions of high crime rates and safety in certain areas
- Limited passenger connectivity and air cargo capacity at Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport
- Poorly-coordinated regional transportation and transit planning
- Geographically-dispersed recreational amenities and entertainment options
Targeted efforts are also needed to raise the profile of the impact of the cultural economy and to develop additional athletic, arts, cultural, entertainment, green space, recreational, and tourism opportunities. Building a highly-attractive quality of place must be central to the Birmingham region.