8. Business Improvement Districts: Downtowns doing things differently

Common Ground

How are businesses banding together to improve their neighbourhoods? On this episode we discover what BIDs can offer, from improving baseline services like street sweeping and safety to hosting festivals that celebrate an area’s history and culture. We speak to John Lambeth, CEO of Civitas, to help unpack how exactly BIDs work, before visiting London where Gianluca Rizzo - Managing Director of the Brixton BID - gives us a tour of the neighbourhood, and tells us how his organisation is doing things a little differently. Finally we talk to Barbara Askins, a “BID-legend” who’s been running the 125th Street BID in Harlem, New York for thirty years.

Plus: TOPOSOPHY's takeaways on the ingredients that make for a successful BID and the importance of community engagement.