Building a Vibrant Downtown: Emily Scott on Urban Planning, Growth, and Community
As downtown Tulsa continues to grow and evolve, people like Emily Scott, Director of Planning and Vitality at the Downtown Tulsa Partnership (DTP), are crucial to helping shape its future. With a unique blend of experience in urban planning, a deep passion for community engagement, and a love for Tulsa, Emily’s work is quietly transforming the heart of the city. With a deep commitment to public realm planning and a passion for community-driven initiatives, Emily’s leadership has been instrumental in guiding key projects, including the development of the Downtown Tulsa Forward [LINK] plan.
Could you tell us a bit about your background and what inspired your journey to your current role with the Downtown Tulsa Partnership (DTP)?
I have been doing Urban Planning work in Tulsa for five years and worked for two years in Portland, OR with the local housing authority following the completion of my Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University. Before that, I obtained my Bachelors in Economics from Winthrop University, and held various roles and positions including owning and operating a food cart and being a bookkeeper in the construction industry. The decision to become an urban planner happened like it happens for a lot of folks – once you stumble upon the career path, it feels like an obvious choice that aligns your passion and interests with skills you’ve already been developing. I have learned over time that effective urban planners enter the field with lived experience and a strong desire to contribute to and care for their community – that is an irreplaceable trait in this field and one that will propel you forward through the many challenges you will face. Before joining DTP, I worked for three years with the Tulsa Planning Office, developing and facilitating the Vibrant Neighborhoods Partnership program and working on a range of planning efforts including PlaniTulsa – the city’s comprehensive plan and Plan 66 – the city’s Route 66 Master Plan.
My role with Downtown Tulsa Partnership started over two years ago as the organization, following strategic planning and led by our President and CEO, Brian Kurtz, started its expansion locally to provide enhanced services to the Downtown community. That strategic planning highlighted a need voiced by the community: Downtown Tulsa needs an organization dedicated to developing and implementing quality public realm planning in order to deliver on its mission to champion a prosperous, vibrant, and inclusive Downtown Tulsa. I was hired to lead our Urban Planning and Economic Development work and, as a young organization, I am incredibly proud of the work we have accomplished to date and excited for our future efforts in this field.
PartnerTulsa and DTP recently completed the Downtown Tulsa Forward plan, which guides public investments through a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District. How does DTP collaborate with downtown stakeholders and PartnerTulsa to revitalize the area, and which projects from the plan are you most excited about?
As the entity that manages the 1.5 square mile BID – Business Improvement District- for Downtown, all of our work is dependent on ensuring alignment with the interests of our Downtown stakeholders and strengthening those relationships over time. DTP’s strong relationships with property owners, local businesses, cultural institutions, and residents, have been crucial in ensuring that Downtown Tulsa Forward reflects the community’s needs and aspirations. By working closely with these stakeholders, DTP serves as a bridge between the public sector (PartnerTulsa and the City of Tulsa) and the private sector, facilitating meaningful collaborations that maximize the impact of Downtown Tax Increment Finance (TIF) investments.
One of our goals with Downtown Tulsa Forward was to develop a curated and prioritized list of projects- so there are only 41 projects in the plan by design to feel achievable and focused. While I think all of the 41 projects will be impactful for Downtown, I am most excited about implementing some of the highly visible improvements to our Downtown parks and public spaces – which were our most popular projects among community members. As Downtown continues to transform into Tulsa’s densest, most walkable neighborhood, it is critical that we reinvest in our green spaces, our streets, our alleyways, our public art and other elements that make our neighborhood comfortable, enjoyable and unique.
DTP, PartnerTulsa, and the City of Tulsa partnered earlier this year to study office buildings downtown that might be targeted for conversion to housing. What role do you see conversions playing in the growth of downtown, and how do you envision these partners accelerating office to residential conversion projects?
Office conversions have been happening in Downtown Tulsa for decades, and conversion projects have been bringing new residential units online in heritage architecture – like the Coliseum Building, where I first lived when I moved here, and the almost completed Sinclair project at 5th and Main – long before the pandemic re-emphasized our need to always consider and support conversions. Downtown Tulsa, like all Downtowns, is dependent on the interplay between attracting and retaining both residents and employers – and both are dependent on bringing new square footage online that can meet the changing needs of both households and employees.
By analyzing 21 of our class B+C office buildings we were able to quantify the potential for both residential and hotel units that those buildings hold; many of which carry long term vacancy. What we also learned is conversions are expensive, unique projects given today’s market and financing dynamics which will require incentive, and in some cases, subsidy, to be realized. As we continue to work as a city to meet our housing demand at all affordability levels, conversions are an ongoing opportunity to bridge the public and private sector and come up with creative solutions to unlocking more housing in our community.
Downtowns often play a pivotal role in shaping the identity of a city. How does Downtown Tulsa serve as a catalyst for economic development across the rest of the city?
Downtown is the center of Tulsa’s commerce, creativity and culture. Over a quarter – 26% – of Tulsa’s large employers (500+ employees) are located Downtown and the 2-mile radius of our Downtown area contains over 18% of all businesses in Tulsa. For a city that is roughly 180 square miles – that is a significant concentration of businesses and commerce. The pandemic offered a unique opportunity to witness first-hand how economic recovery plays out in Downtown Tulsa, and we have watched a nimble and responsive Downtown economy that is poised to welcome almost $1 Billion in new investments in our education, medical, housing and tech sectors in the coming years. This investment brings jobs, educational opportunities, new housing and a windfall of sales tax revenues which benefits the entire community of Tulsa. Apart from economic opportunity, the investment in medical innovation and service provision happening in West Downtown will increase availability of quality, accessible physical and mental health for our region and our state which can support lasting, generational advancements for public and community health.
We aren’t alone as a Downtown welcoming historic investment as large employers across the country are increasingly locating and relocating to Downtowns and urban centers that allow for walkability, transit connectivity and the opportunity to live, play and access services in the same place you work. From Detroit to Austin to Seattle – America’s largest employers like Rocket Mortgage, Amazon and Google are increasingly choosing to house or grow their operations in Downtowns. Corporations continue to find that Downtown’s support their needs to attract and retain talent, are ecosystems for creative collaboration, and directly tie into their corporate brand, identity and citizenship.
And while we are very proud of the corporate culture in our Downtown and hope to see it grow for the betterment of our entire city – we also know that small businesses are the lifeblood of our Downtown economy. Of our 2,000+ businesses downtown, half are small businesses with one to four employees, and the leisure and hospitality industry in particular has rebounded our economy post-pandemic with restaurants and our thriving food scene leading the charge. Over 45 new food concepts have opened since 2020 and night time and evening employment now surpasses pre-pandemic levels. The contributions, hard work, and risks our small business community continues to take in our Downtown keeps our economy going and contributes to the creativity and culture of our entire City.
DTP has invested heavily over the past several years in programming and initiatives that support the growth of local small businesses downtown. What have been your favorite “wins” from these efforts?
There are so many wins from our small business community over the past few years, as I mentioned above, and the tenacity of our small business community post-COVID has been inspiring to watch. I am particularly proud of the new programs we have introduced to Downtown that have brought more local business activity including Pop up Downtown, our seasonal vendor events, and The Downtown Tulsa Farmers Market on Wednesday evenings from April through October at Chapman Green.
We launched Pop up Downtown, now in it’s third year, as a way to decrease ground floor commercial vacancies while increasing the visibility of diverse, non-traditional businesses as well as Black-owned businesses to honor and build on the historic legacy of Black Wall Street and Greenwood throughout Downtown. The program has supported 15 local businesses through fully subsidized short-term leases and half of last year’s cohort has stayed in their storefronts bringing new retail options for residents, employees and visitors. Every year, we grow in demand, and we have built relationships with property owners who can see the program working and bringing long term tenants to their spaces. This is the “win” I am most proud of – that by working with our thriving entrepreneur community and our long-standing property owners, we have been able to build an effective program that has tangible, visible results for our local economy. As a former small business owner, I know that even the smallest amount of support can make a critical difference in sustaining, launching, or growing your business. By giving entrepreneurs a “head-start” in the Downtown commercial market, we have watched four businesses thrive long-term and know more will come online through the program as we reflexively evolve the to meet business owner and property owner’s needs.
Looking ahead, what is your long-term vision for Tulsa, and how do you see your work at the Downtown Tulsa Partnership contributing to the city’s future growth?
I share in the long-term vision of the hundreds of community members I have had the joy of serving and planning with for the past five years: that Tulsa is a city where everyone has the ability to create a safe and healthy life for themselves and their families and to access the spectrum of opportunities they feel would contribute to a thriving livelihood. Neighborhood quality is foundational to that vision and our urban planning and economic development work at DTP focuses on ensuring that Downtown Tulsa grows to be the safe, healthy, and high opportunity neighborhood that any Tulsan can thrive within.