The Value of Economic and Community Development Anchors

Economic developers and planners can use more than anchor tenants and place-bound anchor institutions to secure development, but not all anchors are equally durable. Place-bound, or place-rooted, anchor institutions are unlikely to relocate in response to changes in settlement patterns or business consolidations, providing a strong foundation for community development. However, anchor institutions are scarce. In contrast, most community development investments are tethered to more plentiful, but more ephemeral, anchors: anchor tenants, third places, and managed or naturally occurring third spaces. Ensuring that the right anchor is used on a particular water’s bottom — the specific land use and geographic scale of a project’s impact — requires understanding which anchor best secures a development or regional economy. A survey of agricultural extension agents revealed that the strength of an anchor comes from its community and economic VALUE: visibility, authenticity, loyalty, utility and engagement. Article co-authors are Andrew Van Leuven (Glenn PhD and assistant professor, University of Vermont  Department of Community Development and Applied Economics) and Sarah Low, department head, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois.