ARTICLES
The Original Articles archives of CharacterTowns.org presents papers that discuss practical and conceptual ideas for designing, building and managing character towns and small cities that are interesting, pleasant and prosperous places for residents, businesses and visitors.
The 10 Best Small Towns
10 best small towns provides insight into what traits are important to a character town. “Livability.com explores what makes small-to-medium […]
10 Female Urban Planners that deserve limelight
Urban Planning is a gender dominant profession. The presence of male gender prevails in the statistics that clearly show it […]
The 10 High-Tech Cities You’ll Want to Call Home
10 high-tech cities you’ll want to call home presents the list of cities and the criteria used for selection. The […]
Where Will 20 Million New Floridians Go? Only Three Rational Options
Twenty million new Floridians will arrive by 2060. Their location and the design of their communities will determine the quality […]
The 5 Ideas Every City Should Steal from Singapore
5 Ideas Every City Should Steal from Singapore, by Meera Senthilingam for CNN, is a great guide for city planners. […]
The Benefits of Trees
Excerpts from Published Work… Public Health and Social Benefits: Clean air: Trees produce oxygen, intercept airborne particulates, and reduce smog, […]
From Bloomberg CityLab…A case for turning empty malls into housing.
A case for turning empty malls into housing. Second life: In the Lynnwood suburb of Seattle, developers are turning a […]
A celebration of the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted.
During the later half of the nineteenth century cities in America underwent tremendous changes. More people were moving to the […]
A Co-Work Space Policy for Small Towns
The Working from Home “Bargain”. The post-pandemic environment for many employees, especially office workers, includes an element of working from […]
A Comprehensive, Long-Range City Finance Plan Using a Pro Forma Sources and Uses Process.
A BORROWED TERM, A Professional Accounting Viewpoint. CharacterTowns.org has taken the accounting term, source and uses of funds, and contorted […]
A conversation with the BlueGreen Alliance’s Jason Walsh
Efforts to slow carbon pollution and limit global warming have the potential to drive job creation in renewable energy, green […]
A Downtown Park – A Concept
Downtown Vision: Devote one corner at the “100% corner” to active public use; a place of immediate, casual observance of […]
A fairly simple breakthrough makes accessing stored hydrogen more efficient.
A new catalyst from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and collaborators extracts hydrogen from hydrogen storage materials easily […]
A FRAMEWORK FOR A CULTURAL CORRIDOR.
The Orlando FL Urban Trail – Ivanhoe Gate to City Center
A HOLISTIC OPEN SPACE SYSTEM, connect everything
The City as a Park. If you want a big idea, think of the entire city as a “park” with […]
A Nation of Weavers from The New York Times by David Brooks, Opinion Columnist
Excerpt: “My something extra was starting something nine months ago at the Aspen Institute called Weave: The Social Fabric Project. The first […]
A National Electric Grid…Headlines
From…CharacterTowns.org. A national electric grid has been and continues to be discussed. Incorporating alternative fuels into the electric generation process […]
A Once-Famous Man’s Garden, in the neighborhood.
From CharacterTowns.com… The relevance of Nehrling Gardens to small cities and towns is that an important individual is celebrated at a […]
A Person to Know: Lawrence Halprin 1916-2009
Highlights. Cities is one of those books from the 1960s when idealism in city planning was blooming, design was a valuable […]
A Photo Essay of Historic Gas Stations on Highways
RESPECT. There was a day when design was respected,even for gas stations along the nation’shighways. Pure Oil Company led the […]