The 25 Best Places to Live…Where homes are affordable
Character towns are great places to live. “25 best places to live where homes are affordable” is a study of residents who live in 25 growing towns; families that see their incomes go the furthest. The work of the Huffington Post used median home price and median family income as the basic factors to determine affordability. A study of the 25 towns is important to discern the reasons why affordability has been achieved in a growth environment; a situation that has eluded many growth towns that see home prices dramatically exceed a families ability to pay. Home affordability is a major factor in the rise of technology hubs and other economic growth centers. Program to create a balance between home prices and incomes based on market or artificial factors is essential if economic growth is to be sustained. Rent controls, subsidies and other programs that supplement incomes or reduce housing costs are proliferating among public agencies and private corporations seeking “talent”.
Criteria
- Median home price
- Median family income
Triumph of the City, How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier
Triumph of the City, by Edward Glaeser, [2011] happily demonstrates that the author is a big fan of cities. The city’s purpose, as he sees it, builds on Mumford’s 1961 foundational work with another half century of well-observed experience to extend and expand upon the basic conclusions. His tour of world cities provides lessons applicable to contemporary American cities of all sizes. His take is that the paramount purpose of cities is to provide venues for face-to-face interactions that lead to successful economic and social intercourse. The physical setting and interaction matters. The ideas and specific information about bigger, worldly cities presented by Mr. Glaeser translates easily into a wealth of knowledge useful to planners and economic development professionals in small cities and towns.
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The City’s Form and Function – 2014
The city’s form and function based on sustainable urbanism is an urbanist town with its balance of social, economic and physical assets. The two trains of thought that have merge to provide a useful basis for city development are sustainability and urbanism. Sustainability theory tells us to balance the social, economic and physical attributes of the town in an equitable manner. urbanism tells us to constitute our cities with a connected, mixed-use approach to neighborhoods, centers, corridors, open space and infrastructure. This essay examines the ideas behind the sustainability approach based on urbanist principles as they apply to small cities and towns. The call goes out to enlarge the city’s long-range plan to make it truly comprehensive by expanding its scope to include a Social Infrastructure Plan and an Economic Development Plan along with the traditional Physical Development Plan. Community participation, systems thinking, comprehensive long-range planning and principles for good governance complete the portfolio of ideas necessary to plan the form and function for a character town.
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Best Places for Business and Careers
Best Places for Business and Careers is compiled by Forbes Magazine. The list describes the best places in each state with highlights for North Carolina, Utah and Texas. The cities cited and the ranking criteria offer a glimpse at what an objective viewer believes to be important in building a community that is good for businesses and personal careers. Their criteria was: the cost of doing business, job growth, education and population. The ranked cities and the ranking criteria offer important insights to support the planning and economic development activities of every small city and town interested in being a best place for business and professionals seeking strong careers. Forbes’ Best Places for Business and Careers criteria can guide development activities and civic investments; and, small cities and towns can strive to be on this kind of list of superlatives; any list, since professionals and businesses consult these lists as they seek to re-locate their families or businesses.
Criteria
- Cost of [Doing] Business
- Job growth
- Education
- Population
The Resilient City, How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster
Small city and town planning benefits for the insights in this book. The Resilient City, How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster[2010] is the story of survival. The authors reveal how 12 cities around the world have survived natural and man-made disasters. As a result, they are now better places for residents, businesses and visitors.
The common features of their revival plans and programs have been identified, examined and profiled. This is my favorite book of the last decade. The profiles offer specific details for the preservation and enhancement of a town’s character. In addition, the recommendations are useful for small cities and towns still seeking their place.
Lawrence J. Vale and Thomas J. Campanella review the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake and the British burning of the White House. They also examine the World War II destruction of Warsaw and the earthquake devastation in China in the 1990s, among others. They describe the responses of the host communities, the actions taken, the politics of the times and the details that made the difference. It is a great story. The lessons learned and the insights gained apply to the recent disasters and tragedies of Oklahoma City, 9/11, New Orleans and Sandy are fruitful.
The conclusions of The Resilient City form a studied analysis of many of the world’s most devastated cities and their comebacks. The authors offer object lessons for city officials and civic leaders to use in preserving and enhancing the quality features and characteristics of today’s small cities and towns.
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The City Sociable, Leveraging Economic and Physical Assets to Create Civil and Sociable Places
The City Sociable is a serious town that works hard to create an environment that is interesting, safe, friendly and pleasant. Such a town constructs its social infrastructure to create an atmosphere that brings people together to find a common vision of their future and participate in community events and decisions. The City Sociable also describes how economic and physical assets can be leveraged to create civic and social benefits. The article outlines the contents of a Social Infrastructure Plan with the policies, programs, economic programs and physical improvements necessary to build social capital and create an interesting, pleasant and prosperous place for residents, businesses and visitors.
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The 9 Best Small Cities to Move to…
9 best small cities were recently ranked by Movoto Real Estate. They ranked cities of all sizes across a variety of criteria they considered important when defining the best small cities. Also they recently sought out the nine best small cities in American to move to. The usefulness of this ranking is both the list of the selected 9 best small cities and the criteria Movoto used in the selection process. City leaders and economic development planners must realize that many families, businesses and vacationers consult these types of rankings when selecting a future home, business location or vacation spot. Every small city and town should strive to be on a list of superlatives, any list, that gives them exposure to people looking for quality communities. The list of criteria can also contribute to the visioning, comprehensive planning and economic development processes when planning improvements.
Criteria
- Cost of living
- Crime
- Median household income
- Unemployment rates
- Median home price
- Homes for sale per capita
Great Neighborhoods, A Model for Creating Strong, Successful and Sustainable Places for People to Live
Great Neighborhoods are the essential building blocks for successful communities. They also fulfill the primary purpose of city government…to enhance lives and protect families in their homes and neighborhoods. This article describes a model for building and maintaining great places for people to live and raise their families. Since a neighborhood is more than a subdivision or a collection of houses, great neighborhoods have a variety of housing types, prices and styles connected by sidewalks and bike paths to neighborhood shopping, schools and parks. The sense of community may also be found in apartments and condos that have the social infrastructure found in traditional neighborhoods. Great neighborhoods have social systems such as neighborhood associations and neighborhood watch program that bring people together; economic systems that protect property values; and physical development tools that provide infrastructure and services; code enforcement and multi-modes of travel necessary for sustainable communities.
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Ten Great Places to Live
10 Great Places to Live describes not only offers specific towns to consider as a future home, but also describes what makes a city a great place to live. The Kiplinger organization provides a valuable service by presenting both the places and the criteria for great places to live. For small cities and towns planning their future, the criteria can be a useful guideline, and includes: good jobs, reasonably priced homes, decent schools, great health care and manageable size as essential parts of the mix. Kiplinger started with metro areas that have a population of 1 million or less and came up with a list of cities that met those criteria. The economic development activities of every small city and town should include efforts to be ranked on some list, any list, or superlatives. Families and businesses consult these rankings when looking for a new location for their residence, business or vacation.
Criteria
- Jobs growth
- Median home price
- Education
- Healthcare
Character Towns: small cities and towns economic development
Concept
Small cities and towns economic development depends on character towns that attract residents, businesses and visitors. Therefore, character towns are small cities and towns defined by their authentic, unique and substantive qualities. In addition, they are friendly and inviting physical setting with active businesses and strong neighborhoods. Also, respect is important and useful when preserving and enhancing historic and natural assets, they are the basis for authentic character. As a result, small cities and towns with character attract the creative class and the businesses that employ them.
Connect to the Global Economy
High speed broadband internet service is the key infrastructure that connects small cities and towns to the global economy. Therefore, global connections enable small businesses and entrepreneurs to participate in the global economy. In the end, character towns are civil and sociable with a society proud of its hometown, protective of its heritage and committed to its well-being. Finally, the mission of city-building professionals is the preservation and enhancement of towns with character, and to create character where is does not yet exist.
Cross Leverage all Physical, Economic and Social Assets
This article discusses how character towns cross-leverage their many physical assets to enhance the economic and social infrastructure of the city. Furthermore, city and civic leadership is the key ingredient to achieving the mission. The mission is for every town in America be successful. In the end, success is being an interesting, pleasant and prosperous place for residents, businesses and visitors. In conclusion, leadership and vision matter; they drive the communities’ strategy which in turn directs every action of the city and town.
Vision, strategy and action, with strong civic and business leadership, create the environment for a successful town. As a result, success is built on character and sustainable civic assets and infrastructure using technology and green processes. Small cities and towns economic development is supported by cross leveraging all physical and social assets to support business retention and recruiting. A grow business sector fosters a growing tax and fee base along with jobs and family incomes.
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The 7 Best Cities for Beer
7 Best cities for beer offers an indicator of a character town. The number of local craft breweries is at an all-time high in the United States. Zoning ordinances are being revised to enable craft breweries as permitted or special uses. From coast to coast, privately-owned breweries are producing delicious brews for ever palate.
Criteria
- Flavor
- Aroma
- Apprearance
- Selection
- Ambience
A Strategy for Creating Character Towns
A Strategy for Creating Character Towns is vision-driven. Character towns are the result of much love and careful nurturing of the town’s heritage, cultural assets, natural resources and historic amenities. The vision to see the values of the town and the strategy to protect and enhance them is the process that leads to a continuous flow of activities designed to fulfill the vision. The vision-strategy-action continuum connects every action to the vision of the town; strategy translates vision into action. Strategies are the “thinking” part of governance and city administration; action plans are the “doing”. Strategy is a means to an end, not an end; as such, strategy without vision leads to randomness; strategy without action becomes meaningless. Strategic plans need the guidance of a consensus-driven vision of the town’s future followed by strategy directed actions.
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