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Vision 2000 was a program in Chattanooga, Tennessee, established in 1984 by the nonprofit Chattanooga Venture.NEWS, Smith, John Lukachick, McClane, Joan Garrett, Coming Together, Coming Apart,weblink 6 April 2023, Chattanooga Times Free Press, August 2017, WEB, Why Would CT Want Gig Service?,weblink Connecticut's Official State Website, 6 April 2023,weblink 18 July 2020, live, JOURNAL, Kitheka, Bernard M., Baldwin, Elizabeth D., White, David L., Harding, Daniel N., A different "we" in urban sustainability: how the city of Chattanooga, TN, community defined their own sustainability path, International Journal of Tourism Cities, 4 September 2016, 2, 3, 185–205,weblink The program aimed to reduce city pollution, revive the downtown area, and build more housing.MAGAZINE, Gose, Joe, 2022-09-09, The 40-Year Vision That Revitalized Downtown Chattanooga,weblink Urban Land, 2023-04-06, The program also sought to establish businesses and parks that would attract tourists to the city. About 1,700 Chattanooga citizens participated in the Vision 2000 planning process, proposing and voting on 2,500 ideas to determine a final list of 40 goals. By 1992, Vision 2000 had led to the implementation of 223 programs and projects, most famously the Tennessee Aquarium.(File:Tennesseeaquarium.JPG|thumb|Tennessee Aquarium)

History

In October 1969, Walter Cronkite declared Chattanooga the "dirtiest city in America" in a news broadcast, due to heavy pollution and smog from industrialization. Residents sometimes had to drive with headlights on during the day in order to see through the smog.In 1984, Chattanooga Venture invited citizens to participate in devising Vision 2000, with the goal of addressing the effects of industrialization and improving Chattanooga as a place to live. Vision 2000 collaborated with another local group, the Moccasin Bend Task Force, to produce the 1985 "Tennessee Riverpark Master Plan", focusing on the Tennessee River as a potential center of revitalization.WEB,weblink The City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, 2010, October 11, 2015, livable.org, Partners for Livable Communities, MAGAZINE, Wiseman, Oliver, 2021, How Chattanooga Reinvented Itself,weblink City Journal, 2023-04-06, James Rouse, an influential urban planner and philanthropist, praised Venture and its Vision 2000 as an example to cities across the country, saying "[I sense] a very impressive spirit here that something is going to happen in this city."

Developments

(File:Walnut Street Bridge viewed from Coolidge Park - Chattanooga.jpg|thumb|260x260px|Walnut Street Bridge)Vision 2000 was involved in a number of city developments, including:

• the Riverwalk, a 16-mile path along the Tennessee River connecting various city attractions and points of interest, completed in 2005
• the Tennessee Aquarium, opened in 1992 as the world's largest freshwater aquariumWEB,weblink Tennessee Aquarium History, 2015, October 11, 2015, Tennessee Aquarium, NEWS, Jackson, Daniel, The Chattanooga That Will Be,weblink 6 April 2023, The Chattanooga Pulse, 20 February 2019,
• repairs to, and reopening of, the long-closed Walnut Street Bridge, now one of the longest walking bridges in the worldWEB, Walnut Street Bridge, Chattanooga, Tenn.,weblink www.tennesseerivervalleygeotourism.org, 2015-10-12, WEB,weblink Chattanooga's Walnut Street Bridge, October 12, 2010, bridgepark.org, Kratz, Scott, Fritz, Marie J.,
• the Creative Discovery Museum, a downtown children's museum
• a movie theater

References

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External links

• Series from the Chattanooga Times and Free Press detailing the rise, fall, and aftermath of Vision 2000