Week 2: Factors influencing the relocation of my Business to the Urban Core

For discussion purposes, I will take on the role of a consumer oriented business – A Real Estate Brokerage; which makes a decision to re-locate its office location to the urban core of Phoenix, i.e., specifically Downtown Phoenix.  In this blog I will briefly outline factors and the Centripetal force (Pg 62 Urban Experience) that influenced the business decision to move to the core.  Businesses such as mine, that serve the real estate buying and selling needs of people based in the urban core, contribute to the dynamics of urban growth.  Historically, businesses set up offices in centralized downtown areas, due to the creation of high rise buildings (Urban Experience, Pg 65) and fulfilled their need for growth based on cost saving factors that emanated from outside of the firm’s operations or external economies of production (Urban Experience, Pg 67). So, the relocation of my firm to downtown, in essence helps the growth of symbiotic businesses and businesses essentially feed on each other to make growth possible.  For instance, often times, when we are passing through a commercially zoned part of town, we see several banks located near each other, a Title company, an Appraisers office, perhaps even a Mortgage Broker, and a Real Estate Brokerage, clustered in the same building or the same block, if it’s a more retail type setting.  These businesses thrive off of one another, in essentially providing the same type of services, creating a greater division of labor and increased specialization.  This enables my firm to operate at a lower cost in these locations (Urban Experience, Pg 66).  Hence, part of my decision on the office location is based on factors of agglomeration economies or external economies. 

The influx of people moving to the urban core is sufficient for the firm to generate business by marketing to the correct population segment concentrated in the core area and establishing a more specialized niche in the marketplace.  Part of the decision is also based on the Central Place Theory where a large number of consumers are able to reach the central business district (Class discussion - Concentric Zone Model of Urban Growth; Zone 1: Central business district) from surrounding areas. (Urban Experience, Pg 68).  So, inadvertently, it is not only possible to serve the community that develops in the core areas, due to people moving to the core for obvious reasons of minimizing transportation costs, or enjoying a more urban concept of living (as is the case in modern times); also known as Gentrification (Gentrification as Market and Place, Pg 37); it is also able to serve the Real Estate needs of people living in communities surrounding the core, due to ease of transportation to and from the core.  Further, people come to the core to enjoy activities such as shopping, museums, sports, etc, hence bringing more client traffic to the firm.  Which then brings us to the deciding factor as to whether to position the firm as a retail office in order to take advantage of the walk-in traffic or perhaps position it in an office building where a lot of the business is generated by marketing efforts.  So, there are many deciding factors on why a business would thrive in an urban core, and many subsequent decisions are also required to be made as to how to position the business in an urban core to maximize profits; which is a whole different topic for another blog discussion, so I will leave it at that.  

Reflection: Week 1

Needless to say, the first day was rather inundating, at least for me. Having said that, I found this class to be rather interesting and I believe that Joanna delivered a lot of information in an organized fashion in a very short period of time.  It was interesting to learn the difference between Public vs Urban Policy and the various stages in a Policy Cycle.  I didn't realize how much effort is required before policy can go live. Its ironic in our society that policies seem to become more relevant to us at election time, and somewhat disheartening that many policies never make it to the implementation and evaluation stage.

I don't have any personal experience with the different ways of viewing policies, and hence have not formed an opinion either way as to my favoritism, however, given the nature of this class, I'm quite sure, I'll be well versed by the time we are done with this semester.  From what I've seen so far, I'm leaning toward a Decentralist way of looking at policies, more so than a Communitarian, Individualistic or Regionalist way.  But that could change as we progress through the semester.

I found the discussion on Group Theory, Elite Theory, Public Choice Theory and Regime Theory to be most engaging and it also appeared to bring out a lot of opinions from the class.  I do believe that a person or a group of people can make a huge impact in the world.  Look at Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), for instance, who practiced and advocated non-violence and truthfulness in all situations.  He led India to Independence with single minded determination, and inspired movements of civil rights and freedom across the world.  He is not the only isolated incident in the world displaying the power of human conviction and passion in order to bring about a change in the way things are done.  I do believe that we can move mountains in the betterment of our communities, even if at a very small scale, if we believe that change can happen.  And yes, a single person can be a catalyst for that change.


    

About me

As with all beginnings, comes the task of introducing oneself. My name is Heena Khatri and I have lived and worked in Arizona for the last 6 years. My major is Urban & Metropolitan Studies and this is my first semester at ASU. I have owned and operated a boutique real estate firm called UrbanCiti Realty in the Phoenix Metropolitan area since 2007 and have been in the real estate field for the last 12 years. I have a background in affordable housing and tax credits and am a licensed real estate broker in Arizona. I've been active in the realm of real estate investing for many years and chose to study this major at ASU due to my interest in learning about the history and subsequent modernization of the urban core of Phoenix. I would like to learn about the opportunities available to us as a community in revamping our core with a focus on urban infill projects. Since I have grown to love Phoenix and call it my home, it would be great to learn about its history, evolution and planning for eventual growth. I would like to invest myself into being a part of the future of Phoenix in shaping our downtown and making it a more fun and amazing place to live, play and work. And possibly work on creating affordable housing in neglected areas of our community.