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 Economic Power of Exhibitions and Fairs
They educate, promote economic development and enhance civic pride. SMALL CITIES AND TOWNS HAVE MUCH TO CELEBRATE. Every city and town has something to celebrate: an historic event, the birthday of a famous resident or a reoccurring natural phenomena. If there is not an indigenous celebratory event or person, grab from the regional, state or […]
The Florida 2030 Blueprint
Florida is now the third most populous state and by 2030, 26 million Floridians will call Florida home and 1.5 million more jobs will be needed. To prepare for this continued growth and ensure Florida remains successful, the Florida Chamber Foundation has released the blueprint for Florida’s future — Florida 2030. This two-year research program […]
The Four Freedoms
On January 1, 1941, as the Great Depression waned and the United States’ agonized over the war in Europe, President Roosevelt outlined four freedoms in his State of the Union address. The purpose was to establish the reason for civilization; to establish the foundational freedoms that drive governance and our civil interactions. As Clyde Klockhohn […]
The Future of Small Cities Institute
It is always a treat to find grassroots organizations devoted to the success of small cities and towns. The Future of the Cities Institute located in upstate New York is such a group. Their work, with excerpts from their website below, is useful as described below from their website. FoSCI is a great model to […]
The General Plan for a Character Town
The General Plan for a Character Town organizes civic action and governance by integrating the social, economic and physical activities into a coherent strategy for creating pleasant and prosperous places for people to live. The process follows a vision-strategy-action continuum. The General Plan is much more than the traditional comprehensive plan. Community vision is the driver. […]
The Great Central Fair of 1864.
HISTORY The Great Central Fair took place from June 7 until June 28 of 1864[1] in the Logan Circle park in Philadelphia. It was inspired by past sanitary fairs that happened throughout the United States to raise funds for the United States Sanitary Commission. The main exhibit building was 200,000 square feet in size. It […]
The Great Ice Meltdown and Rising Seas: Lessons for Tomorrow
The Great Ice Meltdown and Rising Seas: Lessons for Tomorrow, As accumulating atmospheric greenhouse gases lead to further climate warming, sea level rise will accelerate, endangering coastal communities by more frequent flooding, exacerbated beach erosion, and saltwater penetration into streams and aquifers. Twentieth century global sea level rise has averaged 1.7 mm/yr, increasing to around […]
The Guggenheim Effect
Small City and Town Museums: Great Opportunities for Community Volunteers. Every town has a history, a founding story; most towns have some unique, authentic feature that can be used to celebrate the town. Museums educate and entertain residents and attract visitors for the same reason. Local museums are great sources of civic pride; they also […]
The High Line. New York City
The High Line is more than a park. It’s a public space where you can view art, walk through gardens, experience a performance, savor delicious food, or just connect with friends and neighbors—all while enjoying a unique perspective of the city. Built on a historic, elevated freight line, the High Line has become a world-renowned […]
The Idea of “Complete”
The idea of “Complete” is using an ordinary word to describe holism of a system. “Complete” is an ordinary word used in a specific way to describe comprehensiveness, contextualism and holism. Complete, in a city planning context, means viewing the entire picture, including all the elements of the subject at hand, taking everything connected to […]
The Idea of Cultural Corridors.
THE BASIC IDEA. The idea of a physical corridor along a street that connects cultural venues is a narrow approach to a “cultural corridor”. A more expansive approach considers the corridor as a string of connected venues that “anchor” the corridor including entertainment, educational, cultural and recreational destination venues. The “anchor” venues prosper with accessible […]
The Importance of Being the Best
The Importance of Being Best is an often overlooked economic development tool. The magazine listings of “the best city in America for whatever quality is the subject of the month” can be important. Small cities and towns of character fit this mold nicely and can exploit the circulation of the respective journals to advertise their […]
The Importance of High Schools
In the early decades of the 20th century, a nationwide movement formed around high school education…who knew there was a “high school movement” a hundred years ago? With the industrial revolution came the need for better trained workers and workers disciplined into the regular workday. High schools had the mission of imparting information and indoctrinating […]
The Innovative, Tech-Driven Main Street.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS: A SAMPLER. Technological innovations are washing over society at an unprecedented pace. Previous generations may have felt the same, but it does not matter, since today it feels overwhelming. The current generations are confronted with constant changes, “upgrades” and ways ofmoving about, buying and selling, communicating and interacting that are fundamentally different from […]
The Kuhn Cycle
CT.org continues to be interested in the methods and processes of other disciplines, believing they have application to community planning and the social sciences. In this case, J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D. [gerry.purdy@mobilocity.biz] offers the Kuhn Cycle as a way to look at how progress is made; how progress is made through revolutionary change rather than […]
The Main Street Hotel, A Threshold Achievement.
Hotels for Tourists and Businesses. Character towns have places for people to spend the night: hotels, inns and B&Bs. Small town tourism is a growing economic fact. Hotels are the threshold “proof of concept” that the “Boomers” are traveling; looking for small cities and towns as they travel the country. Tourists and business travelers are […]
The Main Street Hotel, A Threshold Achievement
Hotels for Tourists and Businesses. Small town tourism is a growing economic development fact. Hotels are the threshold “proof of concept” that the city or town is attracting visitors and perhaps a few business travelers. The “boomers” are traveling; looking for character and authenticity in small cities and towns as they travel the country. Tourists […]
The Maitland Ballfield Complex
The Maitland Ballfield Complex in the City of Maitland married two ideas in 1990: a park and a fire station. The City had surplus land at the Keller Road Public works site, home to their water plant [2] and Fire Station #47 [1]; and they needed a little league field for residents. The result of […]
The Mercantile Library
Specialty Libraries. Public libraries have been presented as places that provide a wide range of community, entrepreneurial and economic development services to a wide range of people. Specialty libraries are a bit different. While generally open to the public, many are “members only”. A more distinguishing feature is the focus of the library’s materials and […]
The Metropolitan Revolution
Mr. Katz and Ms. Bradley have constructed a great and thoughtful book about innovation and the coming predominance of cities and metropolitan areas in the world of the New Economy. Federal and state governments are receding in their ability to be useful participants in international trade and in their capacity to fund local innovation and […]