Community and the Politics of Place
Community and the Politics of Place by Daniel Kemmis [1990] reflects the authors orientation and base of thought coming from the perspective of a Montanan. He is a former elected official, city and state, an author and a thoughtful person with a sense of history and its relationship to contemporary politics. This short book is long on stimulation.
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The Image of the City
The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch is one of the all-time best contributions to the art and science of city design. The Image of The City, written before 1960, contains many terms and ideas that are now clichés and accepted practices. He develops theory and language based on his study of Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles.
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Character Towns in Central Florida: A Ten-Town Review
Ten “character towns” in Central Florida were selected for continuing study. . This article presents the idea of the downtowns and main activity streets in “character towns”. Subsequent studies will examine other character town traits. The summary of attributes can be used to preserve and enhance existing character downtowns and to design new ones.
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Livability.COM
Livability is a great source for information about what makes small cities great places to live.
“The best downtowns foster creativity, inclusion and innovation. They showcase what is good about a community by offering a diverse array of local architecture, art, lifestyles and things to do. Great downtowns unite residents from all walks of life, even those in the suburbs, by providing places to connect. Above all, the top-performing downtowns must maintain a high level of energy and give all residents in a city a reason to come on down.” Read more
Best Cities for TDM
Best Cities forTDM reflects the fact that many American cities have extensive TDM programs that promote multi-modal mobility to all parts of the city. MobilityLab and the Federal Highway Administration offer programmatic discussions and examples.
- Denver Regional Council
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, Twin Cities Metropolitan Council
- Tucson, Pima Association of Governments
- Sacramento Area Council of Governments
- Arlington County, Texas
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Boulder, Colorado
- Washington State
St. Louis, The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape
St. Louis , The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape, [2001] describes a city that was once among the “first tier” American cities that has now fallen to a lower rung; St. Louis is one of these fallen giants. Founded in 1764, incorporated in 1823, St. Louis was one of America’s ten most populated cities from 1860 to 1960; a century of national prominence. This book is a wonderful object lesson in city building. His ideas about “fenced off places and wider settings” provides a sound framework for the discussion. Mr. Sandweiss concludes his fine book with a chapter entitled, Epilogue: Rethinking the Contours of Community in the Declining City, 1950 to Present. Having been published in 2001, the story misses the resurgence of St. Louis and other American cities in the 21st century; perhaps not to their former glory, but to places of increased livability.
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Leverage and the Idea of Multiple Benefits: The Tangible Benefit of Collaborative Thinking and Doing
A thought that underlies all city strategies, plans and actions is to leverage available resources to create multiple benefits for single actions. Every action should produce more than one benefit to the city; as should every dollar spent and every regulation enacted.
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The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2015 by the Smithsonian
(Image © David C. Phillips/Garden Photo World/Corbis; graphic by Shaylyn Esposito)
The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2015 by the Smithsonian, published in Apr 16, 2015 follows their Best Small Towns lists from 2014, 2013, and 2012). For the fourth annual version of our list, we once again worked with the geographical information company Esri to sort the nation’s small towns (those with a population under 20,000) according to their number of cultural attractions, historical sites, nature opportunities and food-and-drink destinations, then researched to find the places commemorating important anniversaries, openings, renovations, recoveries and other milestones in 2015. Think of this list not as a ranking but as a menu, with something for every taste—whether it’s country bluegrass, Florida’s white beaches or Alaska’s blue mountains.
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/best-small-towns-2015-180954993/#Vd72dR1HDr5KKZkS.99
Form Based Code “Lite”: Focus on Streets, Blocks and Buildings.
The use of land development codes based on the form of development rather than the uses within buildings is proving to have two major advantages. The regulations are more likely to produce the desired and expected results; and the resulting post-development buildings and sites are more adaptable to changes of use as city environments and markets evolve over time.[embeddoc url=”http://www.theamericancity.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/FBC.pdf” height=”875px” download=”all” viewer=”google”]
Incubation Nation: Where Great Ideas Are Born
Incubation Nation: Where Great Ideas Are Born |
Spun out of university research labs or started by local entrepreneurs trying to supercharge their hometowns, business incubators are everywhere. This map [see the website for the map] puts the spotlight on 20 initiatives.
By Nitasha Tiku and April Joyner | May 1, 2010
Seattle
Microsoft alum incubate start-ups
Corvallis, OR
Entrepreneurial academics inquire within
Boulder
Summer camp for promising start-ups
Salt Lake City
Subsidized lab space for techies
Oklahoma City
Funding at every stage of development
Kansas City, KS
Everybody get a mentor!
Austin
Ten weeks of advice from 20 mentors
Phoenix
Plans to assist 2,000 start-ups
San Diego
First incubator for early-stage tech firms
Kona, HI
Harnessing the sun and sea for profit
Detroit
New ventures grow in GM’s shadow
Cleveland
Seed funding for minority CEOs
Madison, WI
Tech transfer in Dairyland
Fargo, ND
A patron funds a vaccine corridor
Rochester, NY
Business prodigies get their own dorm
Suffolk, VA
A nexus of government contractors
Birmingham, AL
Some 140,000 square feet of innovation
Ridgeland, MS
Funding for 125 start-ups in one year
Atlanta
Building on ideas from six universities
New Orleans
How about your own MBA team?
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Public Entrepreneurs: The Visionary Risk-Takers of an Entrepreneurial City
Public Entrepreneurs: The Visionary Risk-Takers of an Entrepreneurial City describes the role of the city officials and institutional leaders who extend the range and depth of civic initiatives intended to achieve the city’s vision with an aggressive, though measured, strategy to direct all of its actions, expenditures and regulations.
ENTREPRENEURS WANTED.
Entrepreneurs are icons of the private sector, particularly the start-ups of the high tech world. But as Mitchel Weiss said in his Harvard Business School article [Harvard Business Review, March 28, 2014], “Public entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship.” There is no private, public or institutional about it.
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Wicked Problems
Wicked problems is a term of art from the high tech world. Wicked problems are ones where the nature of the problem changes the more you try to solve it. A moving target, much like many social and community problems faced by city planners. City builders deal with problems, sometimes called opportunities, all the time. Problem solving is the reason the profession exists. However, all problems are not alike. Understanding the type of problem being faced can make the difference in finding a good solution, or not – know thy enemy.
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