© 2025 Henry Stewart Publications.
Gary Ferguson
Guest editor, Special Issue
Principal, Community Revitalization & Rejuvenation Consultants
Former, Executive Director, Downtown Ithaca Alliance
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal
Gary Ferguson has been a downtown organisation executive and practitioner for 45 years, working in small and medium-sized cities across the US. For 24 years, Gary served as the Executive Director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, a comprehensive downtown organisation charged with the revitalisation and rejuvenation of the urban core of Ithaca, New York. During his tenure in Ithaca, Downtown Ithaca tripled in square foot size, and has attracted over half a billion dollars in public and private investment. Gary has served on the board of the International Downtown Association and specialises in downtown strategic planning and economic development.
Chair
Welcome by Julie Kerry, Publisher of JURR
Launch Webinar: Special Issue: Impact of Downtown Programs
and Business Improvement Districts
Methods, trends and approaches
in online learning.
Double-blind peer reviewed
Authoritative
Guided by an independent Editorial Board of leading experts.
Tuesday 17th June, 2025
The Journal of Urban Regeneration & Renewal (JURR) published a Special Issue on the Impact of Downtown Programs and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in June 2025.
The webinar included a discussion on the impact of BIDs and city centre/downtown programmes on their districts and communities. The panelists were some of the authors (from academia and practice) of the articles, which are featured in the special issue. The panel was chaired by the Guest Editor, Gary Ferguson (Former Executive Director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance).
The webinar consisted of the following:
Introduction by Gary Ferguson, Guest Editor of the Special Issue
Panel session, covered the following questions:
- In your opinion, what is the relevance of your article to the downtown/BID community and to the study of downtown programs and BIDs?
- Based upon your work and examination, do downtown programs/BIDs appear to make a measurable difference to the districts they serve? How & why?
- What's missing in the study of downtown organizations/BIDs? What's still needed?
Concluding statements
To download the documentation which was provided at the webinar please click on the links below:
Panelists
Michael Berne, President, MJB Consulting
Michael Berne is the Founder and Managing Director of MJB Consulting, a New York City and San Francisco Bay Area-based retail planning and real estate consultancy retained by municipalities/local authorities, BIDs, private developers and others across the US, Canada and the UK to undertake market analyses, devise regeneration strategies and spearhead tenant attraction efforts. In addition to his client work, Michael speaks, lectures and writes extensively on such subjects.
David Downey, President & CEO, International Downtown Association
As President and Chief Executive Officer, David Downey IOM, CAE is responsible for the overall strategic positioning of the International Downtown Association (IDA) and its members as world leaders and champion for vital and liveable urban centres. Prior to joining IDA, David served as Managing Director for the American Institute of Architects’ Urban Design Center and as Executive Director for the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association. David has been a city advocate since the 1990s having received his degree in architecture and design with a focus on urban design. He speaks frequently throughout North America and internationally on the intersection of place and public–private organizational leadership. David has served on numerous not-for-profit boards and advisory groups to support place management and city building.
Paul Levy, Board Chair, Center City District, Philadelphia
Paul R. Levy was the Founding Chief Executive of Philadelphia’s Center City District, serving in that role from 1991–2023, and now is chair of the board of this US$32m business improvement district (BID) that serves most of the central business district. He has advised a broad range of government and downtown organisations across North and South America, Europe, Japan and Australia on the formation and management of BIDs. Paul has an MA and PhD from Columbia University and teaches planning and downtown development in the graduate planning school of the University of Pennsylvania.
N. David Milder, Founder and President, DANTH, Inc.
David Milder is Founder and President of DANTH, Inc., a nationally recognised authority on downtown revitalisation. For over 50 years he has utilised his market research and management skills to assess the potentials of downtowns and recommend revitalisation and recruitment strategies and programmes. David has also managed several downtown special districts and has authored three books and numerous articles. He is also the Founding Editor of The American Downtown Revitalization Review. His recent research has focused on central social functions, the changing nature of work and its impacts on downtowns, and downtown small business development.
Göktuğ Morçöl, Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Penn State Harrisburg
Göktuğ Morçöl is Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Pennsylvania State University. He earned his degrees from the Middle East Technical University Ankara, Turkey (BS in sociology and MS in political science and public administration) and Virginia Tech, USA (PhD in public administration and policy). Göktuğ has authored, edited and co-edited the following books: Challenges to Democratic Governance in Developing Countries (Springer, 2014), A Complexity Theory for Public Policy (Routledge, 2012), Business Improvement Districts: Research Theory and Controversies (CRC Press, 2008), Complexity and Policy Analysis: Tools and Methods for Designing Robust Policies in a Complex World (ISCE Publishing, 2008), Handbook of Decision Making (CRC Press, 2007), A New Mind for Policy Analysis: Toward a Post-Newtonian and Postpositivist Epistemology and Methodology (Praeger, 2002) and New Sciences for Public Administration and Policy: Connections and Reflections (Chatelaine Press, 2000). His articles have appeared in many prestigious journals. Göktuğ served as the first chair of the Section on Complexity and Network Studies of the American Society for Public Administration and as an editor-in-chief of the journal, Complexity, Governance & Networks until January 2020.
Dan Ziebarth, Ernst Mach Fellow, Austrian Institute for International Affairs
Dan Ziebarth is an Ernst Mach Fellow at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. He is also a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at George Washington University and a PhD Candidate in the Law Group at Wageningen University and Research, USA. His research primarily focuses on public policy and law.
To mark the occasion, Henry Stewart Publications held a free-to-attend launch webinar.