The Maker Movement & the Future of Downtown
Thanks to all who attended the December 7th talk by Ilana Preuss on Small-Scale Manufacturing & the Future of Downtown, hosted at California Street Labs (1313 California Street). Couldn’t make it? Enjoy this video to come up to speed. For more on the Community Vitality program of The McConnell Foundation, go to: https://www.mcconnellfoundation.org/community-vitality/
Context in case you couldn’t be there in person:
In 2017, Ilana Preuss co-authored Made in PLACE: Small-scale manufacturing & placemaking, with Smart Growth America.
She also authored Discovering Your City’s Maker Economy, with the National League of Cities, Etsy and the Urban Manufacturing Alliance.
Attendees at the talk included makers, economic development professionals, and a range of citizens who care about the future of downtown.
Couldn’t make it? No problem, catch up by viewing this
#futurecity #DoItYourself #DIY #maker
More about Ilana:
Ilana Preuss is the Founder of Recast City LLC, a consulting firm that works with real estate developers, city and other civic leaders to integrate manufacturing space for small-scale producers into redevelopment projects and local economic development. She is passionate about making great places and sees that small-scale manufacturers are a missing piece in today’s mixed-use development and neighborhood reinvestment.
Through her work at Recast City, Ms. Preuss works with business leaders to understand the local small-scale manufacturing sector, discover the potential for expansive growth, and tap state and federal resources to support this sector. She works with real estate developers to integrate small-scale manufacturing businesses into new and rehab products to increase a project’s value and draw people to the target neighborhood.
Ms. Preuss’ projects at Recast City span the country – from Washington, D.C. to Honolulu, HI. Through work with real estate developers, foundations, city planning and economic development offices, and with mayors, she develops demand analyses, economic development strategies, and business-retention and planning policies. Her technique of intensive one-on-one engagement with local business owners provides clients with a deep understanding of local challenges and opportunities for success.
In 2017, Ms. Preuss co-authored Made in PLACE: Small-scale manufacturing & placemaking, with Smart Growth America, and Discovering Your City’s Maker Economy, with the National League of Cities, Etsy and the Urban Manufacturing Alliance.
Previous to launching Recast City, Ms. Preuss was Vice President & Chief of Staff at the national non-profit, Smart Growth America. Before that, she led the smart growth technical assistance program in the Smart Growth Division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and led the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance program.
Ms. Preuss is an experienced speaker, see her presentation “The Coming Revolution: Small-Scale Urban Industrial Development” at Meeting of the Minds 2014 in Detroit, and her TEDx presentation, “The Economic Power of Great Places.” She is a regular press spokesperson featured in the New York Times and USA Today
