2016 Theses Master's

Creating Business Improvement Districts in Chile: Commercial District Strengthening Pilot Program

Gaido Lasserre , Valentina

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have been used as an instrument to revitalize, strengthen and recover commercial districts in cities in North America for several decades. In May 2015, the Chilean government started a pilot program: Commercial District Enhancement Program (Fortalecimiento de Barrios Comerciales, FBC), which aims to implement BIDs in several cities. The BID model is based on an increase in property taxes to generate extra revenues that are appointed to provide or complement services such as sanitation, security, and marketing in a particular district. Based on data collected through interviews and using NYC as a point of comparison, this thesis analyzed the approach of the Chilean BID model in order to inform key issues, such as the need for strong associations, access to permanent revenues, and services provided. Notwithstanding, results show the Chilean pilot program is it currently stands to be unsuccessful; the program is not designed to address the long-term goal economically sustainable commercial districts.