Sometimes you can fight city hall: how a grassroots organization's passion for place helped spur place-based revitalization of an urban downtown

Purpose This paper centers passion for place as a key contributor to downtown revitalization efforts by exploring a downtown revitalization process in which a grassroots organization leveraged passion for place (i.e. intense positive feelings directed toward a particular place, stemming from identity meanings associated with the place, and toward which time and energy are invested) to help a community overcome a development project that favored corporate interests over local place-based development. Design/methodology/approach This article combines autoethnography with archival data to explore the revitalization efforts of a grassroots organization. Autoethnography allows examination of the process based on my personal experiences, while archival data provide a means for reliability checks and evidence-based backing for the premise. Findings Passion for place serves as a motivating and unifying force for downtown revitalization, drawing community members into the revitalization process. Circumstances that lead to the emergence of passion for place are identified. Practical implications This paper informs practice and policy by illustrating the crucial role of place, the importance of enhancing sense of place while considering the needs of the community, and actions that can be taken by grassroots organizations that help facilitate a place-based revitalization effort. Originality/value This paper reveals the role of passion for place in downtown revitalization and illustrates how a grassroots organization helped a community resist development that would have reduced the city's spirit of place, contributed to placelessness, and damaged community members' sense of place. This paper also illustrates how archival data can be a useful supplement to autoethnography.