Downtown revitalization efforts in the 1990s focused heavily on attracting large chain stores and national retailers to urban centers. City...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Downtown revitalization efforts in the 1990s focused heavily on attracting large chain stores and national retailers to urban centers. City planners believed these anchor businesses would draw customers and encourage foot traffic throughout commercial districts. When the city of Portland implemented this strategy by offering tax incentives to major retailers, the results were initially promising. However, the concentration of large chains gradually displaced smaller local businesses, reduced the diversity of goods and services, and ultimately led to decreased overall foot traffic as customers began making single-destination trips to chain stores rather than exploring the broader downtown area.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Urban revitalization strategies should focus on supporting local businesses rather than large chains.
Tax incentives for retailers can provide short-term benefits but may cause long-term problems.
A well-intentioned downtown development strategy produced unintended negative consequences.
Portland's revitalization efforts are notable for their systematic approach to attracting major retailers.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Downtown revitalization efforts in the 1990s focused heavily on attracting large chain stores and national retailers to urban centers." |
|
| "City planners believed these anchor businesses would draw customers and encourage foot traffic throughout commercial districts." |
|
| "When the city of Portland implemented this strategy by offering tax incentives to major retailers, the results were initially promising." |
|
| "However, the concentration of large chains gradually displaced smaller local businesses, reduced the diversity of goods and services, and ultimately led to decreased overall foot traffic as customers began making single-destination trips to chain stores rather than exploring the broader downtown area." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Visual Structure Map: [CONTEXT: 1990s revitalization strategy] → [RATIONALE: Chains would increase foot traffic] → [EXAMPLE: Portland + tax incentives] with Initial success BUT long-term problems including Displaced local businesses, Reduced diversity, and Decreased foot traffic
Main Point: A downtown revitalization strategy that seemed logical and showed early success ultimately backfired by creating the opposite of what planners intended.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes a well-intentioned urban planning strategy from the 1990s, explains the reasoning behind it, shows how Portland implemented it with initial success, but then reveals how this same strategy eventually produced negative consequences that contradicted the original goals.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The main idea of the entire text
What type of answer do we need? A statement that captures the central message or overarching point
Any limiting keywords? "Best states" means we need the most accurate and complete representation of what the passage is fundamentally about
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The correct answer needs to capture the arc of this passage - it started with a strategy that made sense and had good intentions, showed some initial promise, but then produced consequences that were the opposite of what was intended
- The answer should acknowledge both the well-intentioned nature of the original plan and the fact that it backfired
- It shouldn't be overly specific to Portland (since that was just an example) or overly specific to tax incentives (since that was just the implementation method)
- Instead, it should capture the broader lesson about unintended consequences
Urban revitalization strategies should focus on supporting local businesses rather than large chains.
- This suggests what should be done (prescriptive)
- The passage doesn't argue for what strategies should be used
- It's descriptive about what happened, not prescriptive about what ought to happen
Tax incentives for retailers can provide short-term benefits but may cause long-term problems.
- Too narrow - focuses only on tax incentives specifically
- The passage is about the broader strategy of attracting chains, with tax incentives being just Portland's implementation method
A well-intentioned downtown development strategy produced unintended negative consequences.
- Captures the complete arc from good intentions to bad outcomes
- "Well-intentioned" matches how planners had logical reasoning
- "Unintended negative consequences" perfectly describes how the strategy backfired
- Appropriately general - not overly specific to Portland or tax incentives
Portland's revitalization efforts are notable for their systematic approach to attracting major retailers.
- Focuses on Portland being "notable" for being systematic
- The passage doesn't praise or highlight Portland's approach as particularly systematic
- Misses the main point about unintended consequences entirely