CITYWATCH The ongoing selling of the Providence story BY IAN DONNIS

Although Providence’s revitalization has been a subject of increasing national press since a Newsweek cover story during the distant days when Joseph R. Paolino Jr. was mayor, the Cicilline administration and a handful of local institutions are trying their best to keep the publicity machine churning.

Joined by the Providence Foundation, Cornish Associates, the Rhode Island School of Design, Durkee Brown Viveiros & Werenfrels Architects, and the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, the City of Providence is sponsoring a two-day national media briefing on August 17 and 18, based on the theme of "Providence: Creative Collaboration Builds Downtown."

According to an itinerary for the briefing, "Over the past decade, historic downtown Providence, Rhode Island, has seen a dramatic transformation — from a derelict urban center to a revitalized hub for arts, design, entertainment, retail, and residences. Its fine historic buildings, devotion to design, and the waterways that run through it have inspired one prominent architecture critic to call Providence ‘the Amsterdam of New England.’ " The promotional material goes on to proclaim, "The ongoing revitalization of Providence makes it a model for any city’s transformation."

The two-day briefing, pegged to "members of the national press representing such disciplines as design, business, lifestyle, travel, architecture, urban revival, interior architecture, and education," will begin Wednesday with a dinner at tazza, the Westminster Street cafŽ, catered by Bruce Tillinghast of New Rivers, and featuring welcoming remarks by Cicilline and Governor Donald L. Carcieri.

The next day is scheduled to include architectural walking tours of Westminster and Washington Street, an overview of one of Buff Chace’s loft renovation projects, a tour of RISD’s new library and new student housing, as well as a series of briefings. Featuring an array of local luminaries, the topics for the briefings are: "Adaptive Reuse of Historic Architecture" (with panelists Nader Tehrani, Patricia McLaughlin, Stephen Durkee, Mike Corso, Mark Van Noppen, and Carrie Marsh); "The Collaborative Approach to Urban Revival" (Mike McMahon, Paul J. Choquette Jr., Buff Chace, Carol Grant, Lisa Churchville, and Dan Baudouin); and "The Artist as Developer" (Cliff Wood, Clay Rockefeller, Bert Crenca, Laura Freid, Martina Windels, Laura Mullen, and Donald W. King).

The effort to cultivate more national press comes as Providence is experiencing more than $2 billion in planned construction over the next four years, as well as concerns about a lack of affordable housing and other things that could jeopardize the city’s character (see "Providence’s development boom: marvel or menace?" News, August 5).

Meanwhile, in a sign of the possible fragility of economic growth in Rhode Island’s capital, the August issue of the financial magazine Kiplinger’s included Providence in a sidebar to a story titled, "The 13 riskiest housing markets." Citing "stagnant job growth," the magazine noted how home prices in Providence have risen over the last three years at a rate similar to Boston’s, which Kiplinger’s called "the riskiest housing market in the nation." It reports that PMI, a title-insurance company, cites a 39 percent chance that local property values will decrease over the next two years.