The commercial space as an engine for urban regeneration: the Main Street Program in the United States

The article illustrates the experience of an urban regeneration program active in the United States since the mid-80s, called Main Street America, whose main purpose is to promote urban regeneration based on local resources and managed by the local community. There are two specific characteristics of the program: the special attention dedicated to the recovery of the historical artistic heritage and the identification of the commercial sector as an economic activity on which to base the process of urban regeneration. Regarding the first aspect (which has brought to the program the support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation), the valorization of historical heritage has the dual function of consolidating the identity of the local community and at the same time offering an urban environment of high architectural quality for the development of commercial activities. At the same time commercial activities are identified as the economic sector able to promote the development of small businesses at the local scale. The article illustrates in the first part the participative and action oriented methodological model used by Main Street. In the second part we illustrate two concrete experiences in two different cities of the States: the Shaw district in Washington DC and the commercial Corridor of Brookland park boulevard in Richmond, Virginia.