When new stadiums arrive, what happens to the life already there?

Public presentation of the new NFL Denver Bronco Stadium - Press from across the country, national media, local reporters, and hundreds of community members came to hear about their proposed future   

by Gregory Saville

We walked across cracked sidewalks and street litter beside the deteriorating railway grounds known as Denver’s Burnham Yard, only a few blocks from the Art District on Santa Fe. I found myself wondering what this place will look like in five years when the massive new Denver Broncos football stadium rises from this worn industrial landscape.

It brought to mind the role of Third Places as community activators, how they are the core of neighborhood life, and how fragile they are. Third Places have made previous appearances in this blog about creating social life out of industrial decline, and how art co-ops lower crime.

Anchoring the Art District is the Denver Art Society (DAS). It stands as a Third Place and cultural anchor that artists built through years of volunteer effort and community commitment, and I could not ignore the uneasy questions that follows so many large development projects across North America: When the stadium arrives, will this cultural nexus survive as part of the new district? Or will it be pushed aside in favor of land uses that generate revenue but leave the streets quiet between scheduled events?

The unique Third Place that is the Denver Art Society
during the monthly First Friday artwalk 

Stadium projects are often justified on economic grounds and those claims depend as much on sustained daily activity in addition to event crowds. When the stadium falls silent after events, what will happen on Santa Fe? Economic vitality cannot depend on rare bursts of activity separated by long stretches of inactivity. Healthy urban districts depend on steady patterns of daily presence that keep streets occupied, like what happens every day at DAS. As Jane Jacobs demonstrated, eyes on the street help keep public spaces alive and safe.

Long before Burnham Yard attracted such interest, artists had already transformed the Santa Fe corridor into a place of daily cultural production. It hosts open studios, exhibitions, music performance venues, and cultural anchors such as Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center, the Colorado Ballet Academy, and the Center for Visual Art at Metropolitan State University of Denver. 

Through co-ops like DAS, artists mentor young creators and welcome visitors into shared and safe spaces where participation matters.

Denver's First Friday monthly artwalk is among the busiest,
and liveliest, in the country

History warns that when large developments arrive in districts already shaped and restored by artists, the outcome often follows a familiar pattern. Artists transform overlooked industrial areas into places people want to visit and experience. Their presence attracts attention and investment. Rising land values create pressure for redevelopment that favors larger and more profitable uses. The cultural anchors that made the district desirable struggle to survive within the new economic landscape they helped create.

THE PUBLIC MEETING

On Feb 13, I attended a Denver Bronco public presentation that revealed both the scale of public interest and the limitations of conventional participation processes. I stood with hundreds of residents and two city councilwomen to learn about the proposed stadium and its surrounding development. 

Over 700 community members attended the new stadium announcement - one city planner described attendance as the largest he has seen 

We have learned repeatedly in our SafeGrowth work that, if large development  projects are to fulfill their economic promise, they must become part of a living district rather than stand apart from it. Protecting and strengthening institutions like the Denver Art Society is not an obstacle to economic development but a prerequisite for its long-term success.

THE CHOICE FOR THE FUTURE

The choice facing Denver is not simply where to locate a stadium. It is whether to build upon the existing cultural foundations on Santa Fe that already support year-round creative life and economic activity, or to repeat a familiar pattern of displacement that replaces community assets like the Denver Art Society with occasional spectacle and inactive streets.

The future of Burnham Yard will reveal whether lasting economic vitality in Denver grows from the daily life of its communities, and whether the cultural institutions that built the Art District on Santa Fe will remain part of that future or become another casualty of progress that failed to recognize the value already present.

Caveat Emptor - When CPTED standards fail the test

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the original evidence-based detective. He understood what professional standards require - verified facts, not confident claims.

by Gregory Saville

Caveat emptor: Let the buyer beware.

That warning exists for a reason. Professional standards are not casual suggestions. Cities rely on them to shape public investment and guide policy. A standard implies established evidence, professional consensus, and independent review. Without those foundations, the word “standard” is meaningless.

For years, I have read and helped create CPTED standards for municipalities and governments. Most recently I came across some "national CPTED standards" though I'm unsure what makes them national or from where they derive their authority. For practitioners and city officials unfamiliar with how standards are developed, such claims may appear credible. The language sounds authoritative. But standards are not created by declaration. Their authority emerges through evidence and multidisciplinary collaboration.

CPTED has a long and well documented history. Since its early development in the 1970s, its principles have evolved through research, application, and field tests and they appear in peer reviewed studies, books, and professional publications.

Standards come from findings; findings come from verified evidence and data

For example, the International CPTED Association (ICA) has published a scientific CPTED bibliography documenting over 600 studies. It also publishes The CPTED Journal, a peer-reviewed journal with the latest research studies on the field.


This is what professional legitimacy looks like. Evidence is published. Methods are documented. Claims are subject to independent review.

GLOBAL ISO STANDARDS 

Most recently, CPTED entered the International Organization for Standardization process. ISO standards are developed through rigorous evaluation by international technical committees representing multiple disciplines and countries. The global CPTED standard is ISO 22341:2021, and ICA experts helped draft the initial framework and later iterations adopted by ISO. For governments around the world, these standards provide developers, planners, and public officials with verified guidance grounded in scientific evidence and international professional consensus.

Standards do not originate from a private consulting firm presenting its own framework or a self-proclaimed expert at a conference. They emerge from broad professional review from experts, academics, and researchers with years of CPTED research and experience. And they do not gain legitimacy through branding or repetition. Their authority comes from the integrity of their development process.

This distinction is not theoretical. It has practical and legal consequences.

The first professional ISO CPTED standard by the International Standards Organization

A GLOBAL CPTED VOICE

The International CPTED Association publishes methodological guidance, including the CPTED Methodology White Paper, to ensure CPTED practice rests on evidence.
 It publishes ICA guidebooks, professional training programs, and ISO standards about evidence via transparent and accountable processes. These resources reflect decades of collective work by practitioners and researchers worldwide.

They also show how CPTED is tested and verified. That is the foundation of any legitimate professional standard.

The stakes are significant. When a municipality or region adopts CPTED standards, it assumes those standards reflect the best available knowledge. But most government attorneys are not trained in CPTED or risk mitigation and cannot assess legitimacy of CPTED standards in their municipal policy. Some might assume their standards are grounded in research and recognized by the professional community, when they are not. That is an error with consequences for public safety, public investment, and public trust.

NASA advisor and astrophysicist Carl Sagan championed the Baloney Detection Kit - facts through evidence and data. Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

THE BALONEY DETECTION KIT

Due diligence matters. Before adopting any CPTED standard, practitioners and clients should ask the simple questions once proposed by famed astrophysicist and NASA advisor, Professor Carl Sagan in his Baloney Detection Kit:

• How was it developed and tested (objective and independent?) 
• Who (and how many) reviewed it? 
• What evidence supports it? 
• Does it reflect the collective knowledge of the profession?

CPTED has matured into a global discipline because it remains grounded in evidence and professional accountability. If its standards carry weight, they only do so because they were earned through scientific validation and international recognition.

In CPTED, as in every serious profession, a standard cannot be declared. It must be demonstrated. Most important, a standard is not defined by who publishes it, but by who recognizes it. Caveat emptor still applies.